LONDON: Police have arrested dozens of people in a cross-border crackdown against people-smuggling gangs exploiting free movement between the UK and Ireland, Britain’s Interior Ministry said.
The crackdown “has led to the arrest of 35 people in multiple locations across the UK and Ireland,” the UK Home Office said in a statement.
Immigration staff and police raided locations in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland as part of the three-day operation, it said.
It targeted criminal groups exploiting the Common Travel Area and abusing UK borders on all fronts, said the statement.
SPEEDREAD
• Earlier this year, after a surge in people applying f or asylum in the republic, Dublin said most had come over the land border with Northern Ireland.
• The Home Office said that checks at major ports, airports, road networks and private addresses across the country had detected the gangs’ activities.
• Operating in the UK and internationally, they exploit vulnerable migrants.
The CTA allows British and Irish citizens only to travel without passports between the islands of Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.
But it has sparked unease in Ireland amid allegations that migrants are using Belfast as a backdoor to the republic, and in the other direction into Britain.
Earlier this year, after a surge in people applying for asylum in the republic, Dublin said most had come over the land border with Northern Ireland.
The Home Office said that checks at major ports, airports, road networks and private addresses across the country had detected the gangs’ activities.
Operating in the UK and internationally, they exploit vulnerable migrants, charging them thousands of pounds to enter the UK illegally, it added.
