A report indicates that the National Crime Agency (NCA) has seized 600 life jackets that are unsuitable for deep water and would not have met safety standards in the UK or the EU. The jackets were set to be used by gangs smuggling migrants into the UK via small boats. The NCA revealed that the life jackets were discovered on a lorry in the Netherlands by the Dutch border patrol who had pulled the vehicle over earlier this week in Zwolle. Though some of these jackets were sized for children, the NCA informed that they would have provided no protection in the water and were intended to deceive migrants into believing they were purchasing safety equipment. The 23-year-old driver of the lorry was arrested and charged for offences linked with the smuggling of people.
The shipment was first destined for Italy before it was transported to the Netherlands, where it was seized by the authorities in a joint operation with Dutch authorities and the UK Border Force. An NCA investigations lead, Jacque Beer, stated that there is no doubt that the criminal networks obtained the poorly equipped jackets, which proved unsuitable for small boat crossings, which the gangs were calling for.
The confiscation arrives a week after 12 migrants lost their lives, including six children and a pregnant woman, when their boat capsized off the coast of France in the English Channel. Prior to the accident, 30 people had already died trying to cross the Channel, which has been the highest figure for any year since 2021. The International Organization for Migration of the UN reported on this and added that 45 deaths were recorded in 2021. Beer also added that the fact that some of the life jackets were in children’s sizes exemplifies how the human smugglers have no regard for the human life entrusted to them.
The confiscation is considered to be a significant victory for law enforcement agencies as migrant-smuggling gangs continue to put the lives of innocent people at risk by exploiting their helplessness and vulnerability. The recent incidents have also caused the UK government to double down their resolve on enacting stricter immigration and border control laws.
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