People-Smuggling Gang Smashed

One of the largest people smuggling rings in Britain has been disrupted, according to Scotland Yard.

Raids were staged on 12 addresses across London and one in the Midlands targeting the gang which is suspected of bringing potentially hundreds of illegal migrants to the UK.

The operation followed a year of surveillance and information gathering, led by Scotland Yard's serious and organised crime unit.

Sources from Scotland Yard said that the gang were among the “premiere league” of smuggling gangs running highly sophisticated heroin import and money laundering operations.

The majority of suspects are believed to belong to a gang of Turkish people-smugglers who specialise in trafficking Chinese nationals.

Senior officers said the Turkish gang is responsible for the final leg of a journey that could take the Chinese migrants up to 18 months to complete.

The traffickers would net huge sums as each migrant would pay up to £21,000 to be brought across Asia into western Europe and eventually Britain.

Most of migrants come from Fujian province in south-east China where it’s common for people to move overseas to earn money for their family.

The journey is staggered over many months because the migrants are often forced to wait at safe houses en route as the next stage of their journey is organised.

Detective Superintendent Steve Richardson, of Scotland Yard, said: "The scope to make substantial sums of money is definitely there in this criminal network as there is with drugs.

"Somebody can make a very reasonable living if they have their routes set up and their network in place. We have today dismantled two organised criminal networks involved in what is suspected to be large-scale human smuggling into the UK.”

(GC)