Overview

• NCA officers arrested a 22-year-old Iranian in Acocks Green, Birmingham, on August 7 on suspicion of conspiring to facilitate illegal small-boat crossings.
• The detention follows a BBC investigation that exposed a smuggling network linking northern France with the West Midlands.
• The NCA currently has 91 active investigations into top-tier organised immigration crime and human trafficking networks.
• Home Office figures show Channel crossings topped 25,000 by the end of July, marking the fastest rate since records began in 2018.
• The arrest coincides with the UK piloting its one-in, one-out returns deal with France under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.