British authorities have seized 25 inflatable boats capable of carrying up to 1,700 people across the Channel, in an operation targeting the supply chains that underpin organised people-smuggling networks.
The National Crime Agency and Border Force intercepted the vessels at East Midlands Airport after intelligence officers identified an air-freight shipment travelling from Turkey to the Netherlands.
The nine-metre boats had been concealed inside pallets. Each could carry about 70 people, giving the shipment the potential to support a large number of Channel crossings.
It was the first time this year that equipment intended to facilitate Channel crossings had been intercepted in an air-freight shipment, according to authorities.
The seizure, made on Friday October 2, comes as British enforcement agencies increasingly focus on the logistics behind the Channel crossings, seeking to disrupt the networks supplying boats and engines before they reach the French and Belgian coastlines.
More than 1,600 boats and engines have now been seized through the wider operation.
Craig Turner, deputy director of the National Crime Agency, said targeting suppliers was intended to increase costs for organised crime groups and reduce their profits.
“We continue to target groups or individuals directly involved in the supply of boats and engines used in the Channel for people smuggling.
“This work is happening both overseas, with international partners, and here in the UK. So far it has led to the seizure of in excess of 1,600 boats and engines, denying their use to criminal networks.
“Our assessment is that this is having an impact, driving up the cost of boats and engines, making it more difficult to get them to the coast and eating into the profits of the criminal gangs involved.
“I’ve no doubt the boats we’ve seized here would have ended up being used to risk the lives of a huge number of people in the Channel had we not stepped in. Our investigation continues.”
Anna Turley, border security and asylum minister, described the seizure as “yet another blow to the evil smuggling gangs”.
“This seizure of 25 small boats delivers yet another blow to the evil smuggling gangs.
“Disruptions to supply lines like these are happening more than ever before as we bear down on the illegal and dangerous crossings.
“We are making progress, with this summer seeing the lowest number of small boat arrivals since 2020 and arrests for immigration crime up 74% on the previous year. We will continue to be relentless as we restore control to our border.”
The operation follows a separate seizure in July, when officers intercepted 25 boats and 25 engines in a maritime shipment at Felixstowe while the equipment was being transported towards Germany.
The latest enforcement action comes against the backdrop of a renewed increase in Channel crossings. About 1,300 migrants have arrived in Britain since Friday, according to figures reported by GB News, including roughly 600 on Monday — the highest daily total recorded so far this year.
Two people died attempting the crossing during the latest surge.
Arrivals totalled 91 on Friday, followed by 164 on Saturday and 418 on Sunday. The Sunday figure included 146 people who reached UK waters near the Isle of Wight after departing western Normandy in a large inflatable boat.
The increase has come despite deteriorating autumn weather, which would normally make crossings more difficult.
It has also intensified tensions in coastal communities. In Gosport, Hampshire, hundreds of protesters attempted to block roads around the port following a migrant landing on Sunday.
The latest seizure illustrates the increasingly international logistics behind the Channel trade — and the government’s attempt to attack the business model by making the equipment itself harder and more expensive for criminal networks to obtain.
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