‘Top boss of cross Channel migrant smuggling gang’ among five suspects arrested in London raids

Five radical including an alleged high-ranking subordinate of a cross-Channel radical smuggling transgression web person been arrested successful dawn raids crossed London.

National Crime Agency officers descended connected properties to detain the men aged 43 to 54 who are suspected of transporting migrants from the UK to France successful lorries.

They are thought to beryllium Algerian and Egyptian nationals.

One 52-year-old Algerian is an alleged elder subordinate of the gang, a spokesperson said.

The others reportedly loaded cars and vans with radical earlier they were enactment connected HGVs.

All appeared astatine Westminster Magistrates’ Court connected Thursday charged with conspiracy to facilitate the amerciable introduction of a idiosyncratic into an EU state contrary to Section 25A of the Immigration Act.

Madjid Belabes, 52, of Camberwell Grove, Southwark; Samir Zerguine, 51, of Flint Street, Elephant and Castle; Said Bouazza, 54, of Oxestalls Road, Deptford; Mourad Bouchlagehem, 43, of Weymouth Terrace, Shoreditch; and Mohammed Mabrouk, 44, Hall Place, Paddington were remanded into custody.

Arrests were made aft much than 200 North African migrants, including children, were discovered successful lorry trailers travelling from Britain to France connected abstracted occasions successful 2023.

Twenty radical person been detained arsenic portion of the probe to date, including 5 men aboriginal convicted and jailed.

NCA Branch Commander Chris Hill said: “These arrests correspond a cardinal infinitesimal successful our ongoing probe into a large-scale transgression web liable for smuggling North African migrants from the UK to France.

“People smugglers don’t attraction astir the information oregon wellbeing of quality beings they transport, whether it is successful boats oregon HGVs.

“They’re driven solely by profits. The aforesaid transgression groups smuggling radical retired of the state are often engaged successful bringing radical successful too, truthful operations similar this let america to people their UK footprint.

“People leaving the UK successful lorries whitethorn beryllium doing truthful due to the fact that they are wanted by instrumentality enforcement, they whitethorn beryllium trying to dodge French migration checks, oregon they whitethorn beryllium being trafficked oregon exploited.

“The risks to some the radical being transported and to borderline information remains, careless of the absorption they are travelling in.

“This is 1 of implicit 70 ongoing NCA operations into gangs oregon individuals operating astatine the apical tier of organised migration crime, which remains a precedence for the NCA.”

The NCA held an Iraqi nationalist astatine his location successful Bilston, Wolverhampton and helium present faces extradition to Poland.