Small inflatable boats ‘set for people smugglers’ seized at East Midlands Airport

In July, 25 boats and 25 engines were seized in a maritime consignment at Felixstowe in Suffolk. The boat carrying them had stopped there on the way to Germany.

The NCA said, had the latest shipment made its way into the hands of people smugglers, “each could have been used to transport around 70 people across the Channel”.

NCA deputy director of investigations Craig Turner said: “We continue to target groups or individuals directly involved in the supply of boats and engines used in the Channel for people smuggling.

“This work is happening both overseas, with international partners, and here in the UK. So far it has led to the seizure of in excess of 1,600 boats and engines, denying their use to criminal networks.

“Our assessment is that this is having an impact, driving up the cost of boats and engines, making it more difficult to get them to the coast and eating into the profits of the criminal gangs involved.

“I’ve no doubt the boats we’ve seized here would have ended up being used to risk the lives of a huge number of people in the Channel had we not stepped in. Our investigation continues.”