A man suspected of being a significant supplier of small boats equipment to people smugglers has been arrested in Amsterdam following a joint operation by the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and Dutch and Belgian police.
The man is suspected of supplying engines and boats to smugglers in northern France, according to the NCA.
The Turkish national, 44, was arrested at Schiphol Airport on Wednesday and will be extradited to Belgium to face charges of human smuggling.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the arrest was a “significant piece of the jigsaw” in tackling Channel crossings.
But Sir Keir added he was “not pretending it [was] the silver bullet”.
Authorities said the man, who has not been named, shipped supplies from Turkey, stored them in Germany, then transported them to northern France.
He was arrested after authorities learned he was travelling from Turkey to the Netherlands.
NCA director general for operations Rob Jones said the man is thought to be a “major supplier” of “highly dangerous” boats and engines to smugglers operating in Belgium and northern France.
He called the arrest a milestone in one of the agency’s “most significant investigations into organised immigration crime”.
Sir Keir said the arrest showed the government’s “approach of working with international partners to smash the people smuggling gangs” was bearing fruit.
“Criminal gangs have been getting away with this for far too long,” the prime minister said.
Earlier this month Sir Keir announced an extra £75m to police the UK’s borders, vowing to “treat people smugglers like terrorists”.
He said Thursday’s arrest was “an important step”, but that other measures would also be necessary to reduce crossings.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the case demonstrated how important it was for UK agencies to work alongside international partners.
“The excellent work of the UK’s National Crime Agency has been critical to this. We will stop at nothing to root out criminal networks wherever we find them,” she said.
The NCA is leading some 70 investigations into networks or individuals in the top tier of organised immigration crime or human trafficking, the organisation said.
The arrest comes nearly a week after a man known as the “best smuggler”, who advertised small boat Channel crossings on Facebook, was jailed for 17 years.
Amanj Hasan Zada, a 34-year-old Iranian national living in Lancashire, ran “a sophisticated enterprise” which “for him it was all about profit”, the NCA said.
More than 50 people have died trying to cross the English Channel in 2024.
Over 32,000 people have made the crossing in 2024 so far – more than the total figure of 29,437 for 2023.
