National Crime Agency head calls for a quick and effective system to deter migrants

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by Border Force following a small boat incident in the Channel
A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, by Border Force following a small boat incident in the Channel Credit: PA

The head of the National Crime Agency (NCA) has called for an asylum system that works “quickly and effectively” to discourage migrant Channel crossings.

Graeme Biggar described these perilous journeys as a "persistent and high-volume threat”, as he argued that "a deterrent needs to be part of the response".

When asked about the new Labour governments scrapping of the Conservatives' Rwanda policy, Mr Biggar said: “We have never taken a view on or set out a view on Rwanda as a particular part of that deterrent, that’s been implied by others that we have but is not the case.

“We have consistently said that a deterrent needs to be part of the response. We haven’t commented on Rwanda. Deterrence can take lots of different forms."

According to the French coastguard, there have been at least 19 deaths of asylum seekers attempting to travel to the UK by boat this year, including nine since the start of July.

The International Organisation for Migration, which records Channel crossing deaths as part of its Missing Migrant Project, estimates 226 people including 35 children are missing or have died after attempting the crossing as of January this year.

NCA’s threat assessment said tactics from people smugglers which see migrants “wading out to boats or transferring from taxi boats”, has “increased the likelihood of fatalities”.

Mr Biggar attributed the increase of deaths to “more people being put on to smaller and flimsier boats” as the average number of people on board over the last month approaches 60.

The risk is a “very strong reason why we are so determined to try and tackle this, because it is a hideous number of deaths of people trying to reach us off shores”, he added.

Home Office figures show 107 people made the journey on Wednesday in two boats, taking the provisional total for 2024 to 18,574.

group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, from a Border Force vessel. Credit: AP

This is up 11% on the number of crossings this time last year (16,790) but down 8% on the 20,279 recorded at the same point in 2022, analysis of government figures shows.

NCA efforts to disrupt the supply for people smugglers have seen 400 boats or engines seized in the last year which Mr Biggar suggested could have helped prevent around 24,000 crossings.

The cost of buying an engine has increased fivefold while the cost to a migrant paying people smugglers to facilitate a crossing has risen fourfold, he said. The NCA estimates asylum seekers pay several thousand pounds for a crossing.

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