The 44-year-old Turkish man, who has not been named, was detained at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam on Wednesday.

‘Major supplier’ of boats for Channel migrant crossings arrested in Amsterdam

A family were discovered hidden in back of a van by Border Force officers in Coquelles, France, according to the Home Office.

Pair jailed after attempt to transport family into UK in van

The trial saw the group charged with facilitating Channel crossings between France and the UK, with the boats and other equipment being transferred to beaches.

Bodycam shows moment 'prolific' people smuggling gang arrested

Sir Keir Starmer says he wants to “stop smuggling gangs before they act” in the same way intelligence services do in counter-terrorism operations.

PM vows to stamp out 'vile' people smuggling trade as he pledges extra £75m

A woman and a girl were wedged into the boot of a car by a man who tried to smuggle them across the Channel into the UK.

Girl and woman wedged into the back of a car in attempt to cross English Channel

The head of a smuggling gang who is thought to have brought hundreds of migrants into the UK has been jailed for 20 years whilst on the run. 

Head of people smuggling gang on the run after being jailed for 20 years 

Anas Al Mustafa, 43, trafficked Vietnamese migrants in a specially-adapted van, via a ferry, to Newhaven, on 16 February.

People smuggler jailed after seven migrants found 'starved of oxygen' in van

File photo dated 23/10/19 of police and forensic officers at the Waterglade Industrial Park in Grays, Essex, after 39 bodies of Vietnamese migrants were found inside the lorry on the industrial estate. Four men are due to go on trial this week for their alleged part in a people-smuggling plot linked to the deaths of 39 migrants.


The 39 Vietnamese victims died in an airtight container which was brought to the UK in 2019.

Items belonging to Vietnamese lorry death victims returned to their families

Marius Mihai Draghici
Credit: Essex Police

Marius Mihai Draghici, 51, fled the UK after the Vietnamese nationals died in the airtight sealed container in October 2019.

People smuggler jailed over 39 lorry deaths is to be deported

It is the first time since records began that Vietnam is the nationality with the most migrants crossing on small boats.

Vietnamese migrants now the largest group illegally crossing Channel to UK

The arrests followed a joint UK-France investigation into alleged online posts aimed at the Vietnamese community.

Four arrested over alleged people smugglers advertising crossings on Facebook

The 45-year-old is thought to be a key figure in a Kurdish organised crime group.

Man arrested on suspicion of smuggling hundreds into the country

Border Force officers found his car had been altered to create the tiny hideaway where the woman was hidden.

People smuggler who crammed woman behind car dashboard jailed

Ujeza Kurmekaj from Banbury was caught with hundreds of phone messages arranging illegal crossings

Albanian woman who fixed small boat crossings for people smugglers jailed

ITV News have investigated Vietnam's people smuggling industry - starting in villages where these journeys begin, and following the route taken through Europe.

People Smuggling

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