The Home Office could intensify efforts in smugglers' home countries (Image: Getty)
British officers could be based in Iraq to snare Channel migrant smuggling gangs, the Daily Express understands.
The Home Office wants to “go after” the criminal networks “at source” and lead international operations.
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Iraqi Kurdish smuggling gangs control most of the beaches and camps in Northern France, it is understood, meaning officials want to ramp up National Crime Agency operations in the smugglers’ home towns.
Iraqi Kurdish gangs control migrant smuggling operations from Calais to Dunkirk, this newspaper understands, with areas split up according to where the criminals are from, such as Erbil, Sulaimaniya, Ranya and Sharazoor.
Labour is prioritising stronger relations with EU countries (Image: Getty)
Criminals from Ranya are said to control a large part of the territory between Calais and Dunkirk.
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The Home Office on Wednesday announced another 100 intelligence and investigation officers will also be recruited by the National Crime Agency to hunt the smugglers.
Border Security Minister Angela Eagle told the Daily Express: “We know as well that – if we want to smash those international gangs – we have to go after them at source.
“That means working with our overseas partners, and deploying more officers across Europe too.
“Faced with complex global problems, this country should not simply be part of the response to illegal migration – we should lead it.”
Iranian-Kurdish groups are believed to control some of the launch points west of Calais.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, announcing “new measures to strengthen border security”, said she wants to “achieve the highest rate of removals” and deport 14,000 migrants by the end of the year.
Ms Cooper has ordered a “surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity” and will target migrants who have overstayed their visas and failed asylum seekers from “lower grant rate” countries such as Albania, Iraq, Turkey, Nigeria and Pakistan.
The Home Office said it wants to “build” on nine successful deportation flights in the past six weeks, “including the largest-ever chartered return flight”. The Daily Express understands details of this operation have not been publicised because the receiving country wanted to avoid domestic criticism.
Officials said 300 staff are being redeployed to increase the removal of failed asylum seekers.
Under Labour’s plans for a new Border Security Command, more British investigators and spies will be based in Europe.
Sources have told the Daily Express that Ms Cooper’s team is hoping MI5 spies will treat people smugglers like foreign spies and terrorists.
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This could see them bug smugglers' phones and trace their movements, this newspaper understands.
But critics have argued Labour’s bid to end the Channel migrant crisis is “wholly inadequate” despite plans to deport 14,000 people by the end of this year.
Ms Cooper was accused of trying to finish off plans set out by her Conservative predecessors.
Former Home Secretary Dame Priti Patel said: “When I was Home Secretary, I fundamentally overhauled the tools we have available to tackle illegal migration and increase deportations and started to operationalise them.
“Labour and the Left opposed these measures every step of the way.
“Today’s offering is welcome, but largely pre-dates their time in office, and the extent of their ambition is wholly inadequate - you evidentially need a deterrent to “smash to gangs”.
“Tinkering around the edges will not fix the broken asylum system.”
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And Robert Jenrick, the former immigration minister and Tory leadership hopeful, said: “This farcical target shows Labour are completely clueless about border security. Less than two months in and it's already a shambles. They've scrapped... the Rwanda policy and their border security unit is still without a commander.”
Responding to Yvette Cooper’s pledge to detain more illegal migrants and carry out a record number of deportations, Migration Watch Chairman Alp Mehmet said: “The Home Secretary’s announcement amounts to no more than giving herself a goal of doing a better job of implementing her predecessor’s plan.
“A few more beds in existing detention centres and recruiting a hundred more staff doesn’t show huge commitment. The criminal gangs will be laughing themselves silly as their bank balances bulge.”