suspicious people smugglers face mobile phone bans to stop them committing more crimes as part of a package of new counter-terrorism powers to combat trafficking gangs.
Investigators from the National Crime Agency (NCA), police and Border Force will be able to use “interim” court orders to ban suspects from using mobile phones, laptops and accessing social media, even if they do not yet have evidence. enough to process them. .
The new Serious Crime Interim Prevention Orders (SCPO) will also allow law enforcement agencies to impose strict conditions on suspected criminals’ travel to the UK or abroad, their financial transactions and contact with their associates before of any processing.
The warrants are designed to give investigators time to build a case against the suspects while protect the public from potential future crimes.
Authorities believe the orders could also seriously disrupt the operations of human traffickers, who rely on telephone contacts and social media to recruit immigrants for English Channel crossings.
Any breach of a provisional SCPO would carry a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison.
Until now, SCPOs have mainly targeted criminals involved in terrorism, drug trafficking, armed robbery, money laundering and fraud, but will now be expanded to cover people traffickers.
Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary, said: “Dangerous criminal people smugglers are profiting from undermining our border security and putting lives at risk. They cannot be allowed to get away with this.
“Stronger international collaboration has already led to significant arrests and actions against dangerous gangs in recent months. “We will give law enforcement the stronger powers they need to pursue and stop more of these vile gang networks.”
Arrivals increase 30% since the elections
Home Office figures published on Wednesday show Sir Keir Starmer has overseen a nearly 30 per cent rise in the number of migrants arriving in the UK since taking office on July 5.
Between then and the end of 2024, some 23,242 migrants arrived in small boats, 29 percent more than in the same months of 2023.
This means that 2024 saw the second highest number of migrants arriving by small boat ever recorded: 36,816 arrived in the UK. Only in 2022 was a larger number produced.
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Upon taking office, Sir Keir scrapped the Conservative plan to send asylum seekers who crossed the Channel illegally to Rwanda, instead shifting focus to “crush” smuggling gangs.
France has reported a six-fold increase in deaths in the Channel, from 12 in 2023 to 77 in 2024.
The NCA says that as of September, there were 136 SCPOs against individuals, making it “toxic for other criminals to communicate and collaborate with them”. Most, however, go into effect after the offender has been released from prison and not before he is convicted.
Sir Keir’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill will create new “interim” SCPOs with a lower threshold of proof to allow investigators to impose restrictions on suspects sooner.
“Judges will not have to consider all the evidence they would need for an SCPO; It will be a summary presented to the judge to demonstrate that a provisional measure is needed. The judge then considers all the evidence when a full SCPO application is submitted,” said a government source.
Civil liberties campaigners are likely to worry about imposing such wide-ranging restrictions without conviction, but Sir Keir believes stricter counter-terrorism-style powers are justified to tackle the small craft crisis.
Ms Cooper is also considering introducing new offences, which would carry jail terms, to attack human traffickers. Possession of equipment such as boats, motors and life jackets would be a criminal offense if the intention was to use them to transport migrants across the Channel.
The NCA, Border Force and police officers are also expected to get expanded powers under the Counter Terrorism Act 2000 to improve stop and search tactics against anyone suspected of being a people smuggler.
In traditional stop and searches, police must have “genuine and objectively reasonable suspicions” that they will find a prohibited weapon or items such as drugs for use in a crime.
The new powers will allow officers to carry out personal searches, examine and seize mobile phones and copy any data on any suspect’s devices at ports and border checks.
Like counterterrorism police, officers could also obtain warrants to search the premises of suspected human traffickers and seize items before the crime was committed and ask courts for early access to suspects’ financial information.
Labor sources claimed on Wednesday that raw data for Channel crossings did not take into account the impact of weather conditions with a disproportionate number of “red days” when seas were calm during Sir Keir’s six months in office.
Labor analysis noted that the second half of 2024 ended with even more red days than the record year for Channel crossings in 2022 (88 versus 86), but still almost 10,000 fewer arrivals were recorded (23,327 compared to 33,008).
The 11 red days in the last three months of 2023 were the lowest number for any quarter, while the 41 red days in the same period of 2024 were the highest since 2020.
“An insult to the British people”
However, Chris Philp, the Conservative shadow home secretary, said Labor had “completely failed on illegal small boat immigration”.
Philp added: “The numbers have skyrocketed since the election. More than three times as many illegal immigrants crossed in December as last year, an insult to the British people. “Labour has lost control of our borders.”
Richard Tice, the second Reform leader, said: “It is quite clear that far from crushing the gangs, the situation is only getting worse under the Labor Party.
“Labour must start putting Britons first and not allow our borders to depend on the whim of the weather.”
The Refugee Council urged the Government to reveal how many migrants die crossing the English Channel after the charity identified 69 deaths recorded throughout 2024.
This is more than the total of 49 deaths it identified for the period spanning 2021 (32 deaths), 2022 (5) and 2023 (12).