The UK’s first border security commander has pledged to keep “chipping away” a people smugglers’ business models until they are no longer profitable.In his first broadcast interview since taking up the job in September, Martin Hewitt said there was no “simple answer” to stopping people crossing the Channel in small boats. But he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that working with other countries to intercept people before they reached the coast of France and undermining the business models of smuggling gangs was crucial.More than 33,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year, which is higher than the total figure for the previous year. After winning power, Labour formed a new Border Security Command, bringing together the National Crime Agency (NCA), intelligence agencies, police and border force officials to try and tackle the issue. Mr Hewitt, a former police chief, was appointed to lead the command in September. He acknowledged that stopping people-smuggling gangs was “an incredibly complex and challenging problem” but said he was aiming to disrupt their business models. “We will keep chipping away and undermining their business to the point where that is no longer viable and no longer profitable,” he told the BBC. As an example, he pointed to the arrest of a man in the Netherlands suspected of being a significant supplier of boats and engines to smugglers, following a joint investigation by the UK’s NCA with Dutch and Belgian police. “We know that small boat crossings are moving from their source country through many other countries,” he said. “And it’s absolutely critical if we’re going to be successful, for us to …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnThe UK’s first border security commander has pledged to keep “chipping away” a people smugglers’ business models until they are no longer profitable.In his first broadcast interview since taking up the job in September, Martin Hewitt said there was no “simple answer” to stopping people crossing the Channel in small boats. But he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that working with other countries to intercept people before they reached the coast of France and undermining the business models of smuggling gangs was crucial.More than 33,000 people have crossed the Channel in small boats so far this year, which is higher than the total figure for the previous year. After winning power, Labour formed a new Border Security Command, bringing together the National Crime Agency (NCA), intelligence agencies, police and border force officials to try and tackle the issue. Mr Hewitt, a former police chief, was appointed to lead the command in September. He acknowledged that stopping people-smuggling gangs was “an incredibly complex and challenging problem” but said he was aiming to disrupt their business models. “We will keep chipping away and undermining their business to the point where that is no longer viable and no longer profitable,” he told the BBC. As an example, he pointed to the arrest of a man in the Netherlands suspected of being a significant supplier of boats and engines to smugglers, following a joint investigation by the UK’s NCA with Dutch and Belgian police. “We know that small boat crossings are moving from their source country through many other countries,” he said. “And it’s absolutely critical if we’re going to be successful, for us to …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
