Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people smugglers who aid migrants to illegally cross the English Channel have been (a) identified and (b) prosecuted in each month since January 2021.

The Home Office aims to tackle the organised crime gangs behind illegal migration. The Home Office works tirelessly, with other national and international law enforcement authorities, to tackle migrant smuggling gangs who organise and profit from illegal crossings and to bring to justice the ruthless criminals behind them. We are determined to go after the callous people smugglers who exploit vulnerable people in difficult circumstances and put them in life-threatening situations.

The Joint Intelligence Cell has dismantled 59 organised crime groups since its inception in July 2020. This year alone, the Cell has so far secured the arrests of 384 suspected people smugglers.  The Cell records activity undertaken by UK and French law enforcement agencies.