National Crime Agency: People Smuggling and Drug Dealing
Monday, 12 October 2026
Contributions
Question
Asked by
Lord Davies of Gower
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of the National Crime Agency’s efforts to disrupt people smuggling gangs and associated drug dealing.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office, and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (Lord Collins of Highbury) (Lab)
My Lords, there is limited overlap between the gangs responsible for organised immigration crime, particularly small boats crossings, and drug dealing, although a small number engage in both. National Crime Agency arrests linked to people smuggling rose by over 55% in the last financial year. The NCA also supported the seizure of 189 tonnes of class A drugs internationally.
Lord Davies of Gower (Con)
My Lords, Sky News recently reported on the widespread use of illegal migrants by people-smuggling gangs to sell drugs to repay their debts. If, as the Government have repeatedly said, smashing the gangs is the answer, why are those same gangs able to turn debt-bonded migrants into drug dealers on our streets? Does that not show an intelligence-gathering failure and, consequently, disruption efforts that are plainly not working?
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
Well, the Government are making multiple efforts to deal with people smuggling, not least in establishing Border Security Command immediately after the last general election, which has been co-ordinating efforts. We have seen a very strong, positive response, and that is important to note in considering the numbers. Where criminality exists, the police forces are co-ordinating; and where there has been evidence, it has been limited to cannabis-farm-type activity rather than people coming across in small boats for the purpose of drug use and drug selling. I hear what the noble Lord says, but I think our co-ordinated efforts are producing the results he desires.
Lord Swire (Con)
My Lords—
Lord Anderson of Swansea (Lab)
My Lords, what efforts have been made to obtain the co-operation of the Government of Kurdistan, a region from where many of the gang leaders come, and with what success?
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
In my previous response I alluded to how important international co-operation is, not least on migration crime and gangs but also on drugs. We have seen success and we are co-ordinating with countries—not least our co-operation with France, of course, which is deploying more than 1,050 officers in northern France to address this critical issue. No one solution fits all; it is about ensuring that we have the strategy across the board to deal with these crimes,
Baroness Doocey (LD)
My Lords—
Lord Swire (Con)
My Lords, does the Minister share my concern that some of these traditional people smugglers—
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and Chief Whip (Lord Kennedy of Southwark) (Lab Co-op)
It is the turn of the Lib Dem Benches.
Baroness Doocey (LD)
My Lords, smuggling gangs use encrypted platforms. Disrupting those platforms requires technical expertise, but chief constables face a constant drain of technical talent to private companies that pay up to five times police salaries. How can the police disrupt these online criminal networks when outdated police pay structures make it virtually impossible for them to recruit and retain the very technical expertise they so desperately need?
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
The first thing this Government did was to introduce Border Security Command. It works with the National Crime Agency, which is a United Kingdom agency that co-operates with agencies across the world to ensure that we can address these crime gangs. The gangs do not follow any borders or legitimate country controls, which is why we must have international co-operation. I stress that the expertise of the National Crime Agency is one of the best in the world and I am extremely proud of what it has been able to achieve.
Lord Swire (Con)
Does the Minister share my concern that many of these smuggling gangs are now exploring new routes into the United Kingdom, particularly in remoter places such as the coasts of Cornwall and Devon, where our resources are more thinly spread? Does he recognise this as an increasing problem, and what additional resources will he be able to deploy to those areas to meet this increased challenge?
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
One of the things we have to understand about these crime gangs is that illegal immigration into this country has occurred through a number of different routes. Obviously, the Question is focused on boats coming across the channel, but some drug gangs smuggle not only drugs into the country but people underneath trucks as well. Some gangs have been using yachts and other mechanisms. Of course, there has always been that link between illegal migration and drugs, but we need multiple strategies involving international intelligence, as I have seen for myself. When I was in Panama addressing the Organization of American States, we supported the launch of technical boats that can go around the Panama area, which is a pinch point for most of the cocaine coming into this country. We are working globally to address this issue, but we do not see it simply as a matter of having enough police in Cornwall. Obviously, we need police in Cornwall, but the best response we can make is the strong intelligence-gathering exercise that the NCA has been so good at.
Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)
My Lords, I join the noble Lord in welcoming the amazing work of the National Crime Agency. Can he tell the House about the recent find by the NCA of very large inflatables, which were being smuggled for use to bring people across the English Channel? Can he tell us what the origins of those inflatables were and if he cannot, will he agree to write and say?
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
I will agree to write to the noble Lord, because I do not have that information. I would stress that our impact is not simply that physical presence stopping the boats. The biggest impact we can have is gathering that intelligence, understanding where these things are coming from and how they are being used, and how they are being supported financially.
The Lord Bishop of Newcastle
My Lords, according to Home Office statistics, in the first six months of 2025, 10% of detected small boat arrivals were children. What steps are being taken to implement the recommendation of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and Every Child Protected Against Trafficking to develop a cross-departmental UK-wide child exploitation strategy?
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
The right reverend Prelate has answered her own question: we are working across Whitehall in exactly the way she describes. Where we need additional legislative support to achieve that, we have legislation coming before the House once it has finished in the other place. So, she is absolutely right, and that is exactly how we will deal with these issues: on a cross-Whitehall basis.
Viscount Goschen (Con)
My Lords, would the Minister care to comment on the report in the Times newspaper of 6 September? A serving immigration official described corruption and fraud by the smuggling gangs as involving briefing applicants on the type of answers they must give to secure what they would consider to be successful outcomes.
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
I thank the noble Viscount for his question. I suggest that he read the Home Secretary’s press release earlier this week, which addressed exactly that. We are tackling this and we have made arrests recently, as he may know from press reports this week. We have tackled so-called immigration advisers and have established the sort of practices he is talking about.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire (LD)
My Lords, I remember a senior policeman saying what an enormous benefit the creation of Europol had been in improving co-operation on cross-border crime with our neighbours. Unfortunately, we lost that when we left the European Union. Can the Minister tell us how close we have come to rebuilding those relations with an agency the British used to lead?
Lord Collins of Highbury (Lab)
As I said before, the National Crime Agency has been excellent on global co-operation, particularly with Interpol. We are also working on a bilateral basis with European countries to strengthen not only our logistical support in tackling these gangs, but intelligence gathering. Or course, there is always a need for greater co-operation, but let me assure the noble Lord that we are engaging in that.
Source: UK Parliament Hansard API. Debate ID: 5413503.