Boats 'set for people smugglers' seized at airport
The National Crime Agency says it is the first time the detection of small boat equipment has been made in air freight.
By BBC News
Twenty-five inflatable boats suspected of being destined for people smugglers have been seized at East Midlands Airport.
The boats, each measuring about nine metres, were found in pallets within an air freight shipment travelling from Turkey to the Netherlands.
National Crime Agency and Border Force officers intercepted the consignment at the airport on Friday. The NCA said the shipment was passing through an airport freight hub when it was detected.
It is believed to be the first time small boat equipment intended for Channel crossings has been seized from an air freight shipment in the UK.
The NCA said each boat could have carried about 70 people across the Channel if it had reached people-smuggling networks.
The seizure is the second large consignment of small boat equipment intercepted in the UK this year. In July, officers seized 25 boats and 25 engines from a maritime shipment at Felixstowe in Suffolk. The vessel had stopped there while travelling to Germany.
Craig Turner, the NCA’s deputy director of investigations, said officers were targeting groups and individuals involved in supplying boats and engines used for people smuggling.
He said the work was being carried out overseas with international partners as well as in the UK.
The NCA said more than 1,600 boats and engines had been seized so far, preventing their use by criminal networks. It added that its assessment was that the action was increasing the cost of equipment, making it harder to move to the coast and reducing the gangs’ profits.
Mr Turner said the seized boats would have risked the lives of many people in the Channel had they reached their intended users.
The NCA said its investigation into the latest shipment remains ongoing.