Police have arrested 11 people in the UK after overnight raids, as part of a Europe-wide investigation into people smuggling.<\/p>\n
Those arrested were detained in London, Birmingham and Gateshead.<\/p>\n
They are alleged to be part of an organised crime gang that used vehicles with secret compartments to transport people to the UK.<\/p>\n
A further 15 people were arrested in Bulgaria and Belgium during raids at the same time.<\/p>\n
Some 200 officers took part in the operation, which was led by the Home Office and codenamed Halifax.<\/p>\n
People being smuggled are thought to have been mainly from Afghanistan along with Pakistan and Vietnam.<\/p>\n
The gang allegedly used specially adapted vans and trucks to travel across Europe into Britain.<\/p>\n
Those being held are:<\/p>\n
Director of the Criminal and Financial Investigation Steve Dann said the network had made a “systematic attempt to evade the UK’s immigration controls”.<\/p>\n
“People smuggling is a cruel and dangerous trade in which often vulnerable individuals are treated as commodities.<\/p>\n
“Many are passed into the hands of other crime gangs who would seek to exploit them for modern slavery purposes – including labour exploitation and the illicit sex trade.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Source bbc<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"