Raid carried out in Wakefield as part of Europe-wide people-smuggling investigation

At approximately 6am today officers from Immigration Enforcement’s Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) team executed warrants at five addresses in Grimethorpe, Bradford and Wakefield.

A 24-year-old Albanian man was arrested at the property on Northfield Lane in Wakefield on suspicion of entering the country illegally.

A quantity of cash was also found at the address during the investigation , which was supported by West Yorkshire Police.

In total, across all the raids, approximately £9,000 in cash and around 60 cannabis plants were also seized.

Earlier in the day, as part of the same investigation, Belgian authorities arrested 10 people and seized a gun after searching 12 addresses mainly in the Liege region.

The arrests followed an incident on December 4 last year when 14 Albanian men were detained on suspicion of entering the UK illegally via a vessel that had docked in Southwold harbour in East Suffolk.

Immigration Enforcement Officers dealt with this incident and launched an investigation.

Minister for Immigration Compliance and the Courts Chris Philp said: “These arrests were made as part of an ongoing investigation into a suspected organised crime group involved in people smuggling. We believe that the arrests made today in the UK and Belgium will have significantly disrupted the group’s activities.

“People smuggling is an abhorrent crime that treats migrants as human cargo to be profited from. Working with partners at home and abroad, we are determined to do all we can to dismantle the criminal networks involved in illegal immigration.”

The Immigration Enforcement investigation, which is being supported by the National Crime Agency and Project Invigor, the UK’s organised immigration crime task force, continues.

Today’s operation was supported by officers from West Yorkshire Police and South Yorkshire Police.