Gangs move into people smuggling

Thousands of illegal immigrants are being smuggled into Britain by organised-crime groups like the Russian mafia and Chinese triads. Jason Bennetto, Crime Correspondent, outlines a new crackdown on the multi-million pound business.

Illegal immigrants are paying up to pounds 10,000 each for special "package deals" that include forged documents and the services of a lawyer to help them stay in this country. The smuggling networks run by international "godfather" figures are being targeted by MI6, MI5 and a new unit of police and immigration officers, which was announced yesterday.

The initiative follows evidence that international organised criminals are becoming increasingly involved in the smuggling of people, frequently from Turkey, China, and the Indian sub-continent. They are being brought in to work in the sex industry as prostitutes, as cheap agricultural labour, and in search of a better life.

The number of people caught illegally entering Britain has risen from 60 in 1991 to 700 in the past year, although only a small fraction of the immigrants are caught. They pay from pounds 3,000 to pounds 10,000 to be brought in. A current smuggling ring being investigated involves immigrants, probably from China or India, being smuggled into Britain via a complicated route across several countries. On arrival the people are given legal advice and help in applying for asylum, along with forged and counterfeit documents, such as passports and ID cards.

In other cases people are paying thousands of pounds to be hidden on vehicles, including being attached the the undercarriage of a bus, and brought over on the Channel Tunnel or ferries. The racketeers are prepared to invest considerable sums in modifying coaches and lorries so that they can hide illegal immigrants. In May a Spanish man was jailed for two and a half years after he was caught trying to smuggle nine Chinese people in a vehicle through the Channel Tunnel.

Immigrants are also flown over, using forged and counterfeit documents. Some end up in prostitution, including a case in which more than 100 Brazilian women were smuggled into London in the 1990s to work as high- class call-girls.

Chinese triads in London have employed women illegally brought in from Thailand and Malaysia to work as prostitutes in brothels where they are held as prisoners. Others work for "gangmasters", picking crops for meagre wages

The criminals involved include groups from Britain, Russia, China, Nigeria and Colombia. The extent of the problem was disclosed yesterday by Mike O'Brien, the immigration minister, who said: "Vast profits are being made. It is becoming a big business to bring people into Britain and other European countries.

"There is increasing evidence that criminal organisations that have previously seen opportunities in drugs and prostitution now see new opportunities in illegal immigration."

A new unit was being set up to go after the "godfathers of immigrant smuggling". The Organised Immigration Crime Section will have a staff of five or six dedicated officers drawn from the National Criminal Intelligence Service and the Immigration Service.