Organised crime gangs are smuggling thousands into the UK undetected (Image: Getty)
Crime gangs are successfully smuggling “thousands” of people into the UK undetected every year, the National Crime Agency believes.
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Networks are “helping” migrants pass through border controls on numerous visa and settlement schemes, investigators said.
In an alarming assessment, the NCA said the threat of “organised immigration crime has increased”.
The majority of these are likely passing through airport arrival halls with fake documents, rather than hiding in lorries or crossing the English Channel.
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The organised immigration crime threat is growing (Image: Getty)
Outlining the range of risks facing Britain, the National Crime Agency said “there has never been a more dangerous time to take drugs” due to a rise in cocaine production, the increase in the availability of synthetic opioids and more cannabis flooding into Britain.
The UK must brace for a widespread outbreak of synthetic opioids – similar to those which have blighted cities in America - as demand for a stronger “high” intensifies.
Highlighting how gangs are targeting Britain’s borders to smuggle people and goods into the country, the National Crime Agency said: “Organised crime groups help migrants to fraudulently obtain entry clearance through ‘leave to enter’ or ‘leave to remain’ in the UK under various visa or settlement schemes. By definition, successful deceptions remain undetected, but it is likely they amount to thousands of people per year.
“Evidence suggests that organised immigration crime groups remain a persistent threat and it is highly likely the threat from organised immigration crime has increased going into 2024.”
NCA Director General Graeme Biggar stressed the UK is facing a growing threat in multiple areas.
Mr Biggar said drugs were the biggest single driver of organised crime in the UK and remained the "most important crime type" for the law enforcement agency to be tackling as he raised concerns about a "significant" number of deaths linked to the "incredibly strong" synthetic opioid nitazene in the last year.
Security chiefs are increasingly concerned by Britain’s growing drug death toll, which is now “amongst the highest in Europe”.
And despite a fall in “street crime”, the “scale and harm of serious and organised crime has increased”.
Nitazene has been used to strengthen heroin, the NCA believes. Since the "surge" began in June last year, there have been 284 confirmed deaths from nitazene or versions of it.
This number is likely to rise as investigations into other deaths continue.
Mr Biggar said: "That is a relatively small proportion of overall drug deaths, but it has been growing. It is significant.
"From nitazene, you can absolutely die the very first time you take it, and from nitazene, you very often don't know you are taking it.
"It is heroin that's been adulterated. It's been put into a pill that you think is something else. And so anyone, a teenager, might be taking a drug thinking it is something else, and it's nitazene. It is incredibly strong, and you die."
In the majority of nitazene cases, the substance was "consumed unintentionally alongside other drugs such as heroin and/or benzodiazepines, with very small quantities capable of leading to overdose and death", a document setting out the NCA's national strategic assessment said, adding: "We must prepare for these substances to become widely available, both unadvertised in fortified mixes, and in response to user demand as a more potent high."
And the NCA admitted it has seen a surge in passengers arriving at UK airports with cocaine and cannabis stashed in their luggage.
Rob Jones, from the NCA, added: “Over the years, we’ve gotten very good at investigating sophisticated couriers who have false compartments in suitcases, but what we’re seeing at the moment is a growth of people checking in bags literally full of drugs.
“These have 30kg in a suitcase, with no concealment, shrink wrapped cannabis and multiple couriers on the same flight.”
Mr Biggar said: “While overall crime figures have fallen over the last decade, the scale and harm of serious and organised crime has increased.
“As we outline in our latest assessment, it is clear that serious and organised crime still causes more harm, to more people, more often, than any other national security threat.
“No part of our society is immune to its effects.
“We work with social media companies to take down online adverts set up by people smugglers to entice people to make the hazardous journey across the channel, and we have jailed people who thought they could hide on the dark web to facilitate the sexual abuse of children.
“And we are more committed than ever to targeting the organised criminals and gangs responsible for putting people in small boats to cross the channel, having seized more than 400 boats and engines over the last year.”
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The NCA, in its Strategic Threat Assessment, said as many as 840,000 adults pose a risk to children.
Investigators said “the scale, complexity, and severity of the child sexual abuse threat is likely increasing.”
Rani Govender, Online Safety Policy Manager at the NSPCC, said: “The NCA’s assessment of online threats paints a concerning picture of increasing risk with new technology both enabling abuse and preventing the identification of victims and offenders.
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“It is crucial that platforms using end-to-end encryption play their part and ensure they have measures in place to safeguard victims and identify and disrupt abuse.
“Ofcom must hold tech services accountable and strengthen their plans for tackling child sexual abuse. Government can also show their commitment to protecting children from harm wherever it takes place as they review the Online Safety Act.”