Number of Britons smuggling migrants for cash surges as gangs rake in BILLIONS
THE number of Britons cashing in on the smuggling of migrants has surged, according to an international crime-fighting agency.
Alarming figures show a total of 12,000 people trafficking suspects were added to Europol’s database this year.
Britons make up 132 of this number – a jump of nearly a third in a year.
Smugglers are believed to advertise their services at crowded migrant camps across the Channel near towns such as Calais and Dunkirk.
But despite strict security measures, traffickers are evading border force officials to make a profit off the backs of desperate migrants wishing to make it to the UK.
The European Union’s crime-fighting agency, Europol, said: “Smugglers have shown a constant ability to adapt to stricter border controls and use new routes and modi operandi to evade law enforcement attention and maintain their highly profitable business.”
Civil Guards SEIZE over 60 migrants climbing border fence
Smugglers have shown a constant ability to adapt to stricter border controls to maintain their highly profitable business
The agency added gangs of migrant traffickers are also “increasingly offering fraudulent documents to allow them to move forward into the EU”.
While “alternative” routes across the land, sea and air are being used, the smuggling of people in lorries remains the most popular method.
International police forces, led by Italy, worked together to arrest 16 people on suspicion of people smuggling, in a crackdown across Austria, Germany and Italy.
A Europol report from earlier this year branded the migrant smuggling trade the “fastest growing criminal market in Europe”.
Gangs are believed to have raked in £5billion last year alone.