Nearly 50 arrests in people smuggling crackdown at Irish border

Immigration Enforcement has handed a blow to organised criminal gangs illegally smuggling people from Ireland to the UK, with 49 arrests across 3 days of targeted action at UK ports. 

Between Tuesday 22 September and Thursday 24 September, law enforcement agencies patrolled a number of seaports, airports, roads and rail networks across Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales in a bid to catch those circumventing UK immigration laws. 

Operation Comby, a multi-agency crackdown targeting individuals who have illegally passed from Ireland to the UK has led to the arrest of over 250 organised criminals and immigration offenders since the election – of which 113 have been removed. The operation has also seen the seizure of almost half a million pounds in cash. 

It aims to stamp out abuse of the Common Travel Area (CTA) between the United Kingdom and Ireland. The CTA is a long-standing arrangement between the United Kingdom and Ireland which allows British and Irish citizens to move freely between each country. 

This activity works alongside Immigration Enforcement’s Operation Gull which provides routine deployments across Northern Irish ports and airports, tackling everyday abuse of the CTA which has led to almost 1,000 arrests in the last year.

Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Anna Turley said:

We are bearing down on these organised criminal gangs who operate on wicked lies and deception.

Individuals who think they can get round our laws will quickly find out that they will not be successful.

This operation is a very clear example of Immigration Enforcement’s round the clock work disrupt these criminal gangs and remove those with no right to be in the UK.