A man suspected of masterminding the smuggling of thousands of migrants across the Mediterranean from North Africa into Italy on ‘death trap’ boats was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) on Wednesday.
A 40-year-old Egyptian national was detained in west London on Wednesday on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration. He is allegedly linked to a number of illegal crossings from North Africa to Italy in the last year, according to a press release published by the NCA on Thursday.
“We suspect this man has been running his operation from the UK and masterminding the smuggling of thousands of migrants,” said Darren Barr, Senior Investigating Officer at the NCA.
“The type of boats organised crime groups use for crossings are death traps, and sadly many people have died after incidents in the Mediterranean, demonstrating the level of danger,” he added.
Last week, over 600 migrants were detected attempting to cross the English Channel, the highest number in 2023, according to the latest figures published by the Home Office.
The government has been working on an ‘illegal migration bill’ to better control the number of asylum seekers arriving in the UK.
The illegal migration bill would enable the detention of unlawful arrivals without bail or judicial review within the first 28 days of detention until they can be removed. It includes provisions to prevent asylum seekers from claiming to be a victim of modern slavery to avoid or delay their removal.
Some believe this bill will push asylum seekers to find riskier methods of getting into the UK.
“My fear with this illegal migration bill is that it will drive a coach and horses through the Modern Slavery Act, denying support to those who have been exploited and enslaved, and in doing so, making it much harder to catch and stop the traffickers and slave drivers,” said former Prime Minister Theresa May.
On Wednesday, a majority of the Welsh parliament voted to reject the UK government’s Illegal Migration Bill. The bill amounts to a “ban on asylum”, Jane Hutt, Welsh Labour social justice minister, said during the debate, the BBC reported.
Dunja Mijatovic, the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, previously urged lawmakers to vote against the bill, warning them that the bill would have “serious consequences both for the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in the UK” in a letter addressed to both chambers of the UK parliament back in March.
(Sofia Stuart Leeson | EURACTIV.com)
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