The National Crime Agency (NCA) has diverted specialists from fighting drug trafficking, firearm smuggling and child sexual abuse to tackle the small boats crisis, its director-general for operations has warned.
Rob Jones told a parliamentary inquiry that the agency has prioritised small boats, pulling experts in global drug networks and smuggling into the cross-Channel migration effort. He said: "You cannot pivot towards one threat without there being an opportunity cost or consequence."
Backfilling expertise
Mr Jones said: "We have prioritised small boats. Specialists who understand smuggling and global networks and are experts in drugs are now tackling small boats. We are backfilling and developing other people to ensure we retain the level of expertise we need to tackle drugs."
He added: "We are holding the line, but this is challenging. The national security threat, the National Crime Agency's remit around a range of threats, from child sexual abuse through to organised immigration crime and drugs and firearms – none of that has gone away. We are pursuing that concurrently while we get after this."
High street exploitation
Mr Jones also warned that chaos on UK high streets was worsening the immigration crisis, as shops and other outlets run by criminal gangs provided work for people in the UK illegally, encouraging small-boat migrants to come in hope of finding work.
He said: "Criminal finance, cash-based economy, the grey economy and the high street – all those things are relevant to illegal migration, because you do not want someone to think that they are going to come work for cash in a vape shop in the UK."
Publicity campaign and border efforts
The UK is to launch a publicity campaign to convince would-be illegal migrants overseas that they will not be able to "melt away" in British society. The Border Force is recruiting ambassadors and high commissioners in Horn of Africa countries to spread the message that illegal migrants are vulnerable to exploitation.
Officials have revealed almost 4,000 migrants are in camps on the French coast waiting to cross. An NCA spokesman said: "Tackling organised immigration crime is a top priority for the NCA, and we are putting more resource behind it than ever before. Through the Border Security Command, the NCA has received funding specifically to strengthen the response to the small boats threat. This investment enables the NCA to deploy additional resources, expand operational and investigative activity, enhance intelligence and specialist capabilities, invest in technology, and deepen cooperation with international partners."
