Smuggling gangs have been hit with the largest crackdown on record, with new figures showing a 33% surge in arrests, convictions and seizures of criminal cash and assets. The data follows the Prime Minister’s pledge to “smash the gangs” and reflects a major intensification of enforcement activity.
A record-breaking quarter at the start of the year saw nearly 900 organised immigration crime networks dismantled, with no ability to continue their illegal operations. Since the Border Security Command was established in July 2024, there have been nearly 4,000 disruptions targeting these networks.
The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, has announced hardline reforms to remove incentives that draw illegal migrants to the UK and make it easier to remove those with no right to be here. Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, said: “Organised immigration crime has wreaked havoc on our borders and I will not stand by and watch it continue. The criminal gangs who think they can abuse our borders are wildly mistaken.”
Major disruptions—enforcement actions with significant or long-term impact on organised immigration crime—have risen by 51% in the year ending September 2025 compared to the previous year. One notable case involved a gang using fake identity documents to bring over 500 Gambian nationals into the UK illegally. The smuggling kingpin is believed to have made a turnover of £1.3 million from his bank account despite claiming to earn only £35,000 a year from a furniture manufacturing company.
In July and August 2025, the National Crime Agency, in partnership with Bulgarian law enforcement, seized over 50 small boats that were due to be transported across Europe for use by people smugglers in the English Channel. Statistics also reveal that the average number of people per small boat has reached a record high of 59, which officials believe shows that worried gangs are being forced to take greater risks.
