Keir Starmer has told global police chiefs that people smugglers will be treated “like terrorists” as he appealed for help winning the “war” on small boat crossings.
The PM told the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow that crushing the criminal gangs fuelling the deadly trade would be a “victory for humanity”. He pledged bored officers and the National Crime Agency (NCA) would be given tough new powers to tackle gangs behind small boat crossings.
Speaking to delegates from over 170 countries, he said: “If together we can win this war against the people smugglers, then this gathering will have achieved a victory for humanity – every bit as significant as the Glasgow Climate Pact.”
He announced the new Border Security Command would be given an extra £75million – doubling the cash already committed. On top of that the National Crime Agency (NCA) will be given £58million.
Outlining actions taken against terrorists that he wants applied to trafficking gangs, he said: “We can shut down their bank accounts, cut off their internet access, and arrest them for making preparations to act, before an attack has taken place. We don’t wait for them to act – we try to stop them before they act. We need to stop people smuggling gangs before they act too.”
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AFP via Getty Images)
He told the conference: “As I say – we’re going to treat people smugglers like terrorists. So we’re taking our approach to counter-terrorism – which we know works – and applying it to the gangs, with our new Border Security Command.
“We can seize their phones at the border, identifying and tracing smugglers wiring payments. We’ve already trained sniffer dogs to detect the smell of dinghy rubber and placed them at the crossing between Bulgaria and Turkey to stop more than 100 small boats upstream, long before they made it to the Channel.”
He warned global crime fighters they must “wake up” to the dangers of people smuggling, saying the “vile” trade “must be stamped out”. Mr Starmer said that as part of his Government’s “reset” with the EU, he would be seeking a new security pact – which would once again give the UK access to real-time intelligence sharing networks.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told delegates: “The lines between different threats are increasingly blurred. And thanks to modern technology, the ability of crime groups to operate internationally has never been greater.
“No single state can tackle these threats in isolation. International security and domestic security are two sides of the same coin. “
It comes as Jurgen Stock, Secretary General of Interpol, told reporters: “I am worried the world is losing the fight against the globalisation of crime.”