UK and Belgium strike deal to target small boat gangs

Migrant smugglers launching small boats from Belgium and criminals involved in wider serious and organised crime will face intensified law enforcement action under a UK-Belgium agreement announced today.

Signed by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin, the UK-Belgium Law Enforcement Cooperation Agreement (LECA) will enable police officers in both countries to exchange intelligence autonomously and more quickly, helping identify, disrupt and dismantle organised criminal networks, including those involved in migrant smuggling.

Under previous arrangements, certain information exchanges required judicial approval before intelligence could be shared, creating delays at critical stages of investigations and reducing investigators’ ability to develop a timely and comprehensive picture of criminal networks operating across both countries.

The new agreement removes those barriers, enabling officers to share information autonomously and act more quickly against criminals operating across borders. It will strengthen joint investigations and specialist training to detect and disrupt criminal activity linked to small boat crossings, as well as wider organised crime such as drugs and firearms smuggling.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said:

This agreement will help UK and Belgian police tighten the net around the criminal gangs behind small boat crossings.

The migrant smuggling trade doesn’t start and stop on the beaches of northern France. These gangs operate across borders, so we’ll work with every international partner available to track them down, shut them down and bring them to justice.

Our efforts are delivering results. Small boat crossings are down significantly. But we know there is much more to do. I will do whatever it takes to bear down on these vile criminals and bring them to justice.

Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin said:

Belgium and the United Kingdom are neighbouring countries and friendly nations. We have close operational police co-operation, which has already delivered very concrete results both on the ground and in investigations.

Our shared ambition is to continue working together to combat migrant smuggling and drug-related organised crime, which operate on both sides of our borders and exploit human misery. This text strengthens our tools to fight these crimes together, with ever greater effectiveness.

Joint enforcement activity between the UK and Belgium has already delivered more than 50 arrests linked to migrant smuggling and over 40 vehicle seizures this year, while investigations continue into the criminal networks responsible for dangerous Channel crossings.

Earlier this year, organised crime facilitator Adem Savas was sentenced to 11 years’ imprisonment and fined €400,000 in Belgium for supplying thousands of boats and engines to criminal networks involved in migrant smuggling across the English Channel.

The conviction followed a joint investigation between the National Crime Agency (NCA) and Belgian authorities after his arrest at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in November 2024, demonstrating how close international co-operation can bring those who profit from illegal migration to justice.

NCA International Director Will Middleton said:

Belgium is one of our most important partners, and law enforcement officers from both countries work together every day to protect the public from a range of organised crime threats. We have already had significant operational successes through this work.

This agreement will allow us to deepen that co-operation and improve our intelligence sharing, whether targeting drug traffickers, tackling firearms smuggling or stopping people smugglers.

Last month, the Home Secretary announced a record deployment of NCA officers to tackle organised immigration crime, with the number of dedicated officers increasing from 276 at the start of 2025 to almost 800.

Working alongside international partners, those officers have helped seize more than 1,100 boats and engines since the election.

SOURCE: GOV