Five people have been arrested and charged as part of a National Crime Agency investigation targeting a suspected organised crime group involved in smuggling migrants out of the UK in lorries.

It followed a surveillance operation on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 January which saw a number of taxis drive down from London to a location near Whitstable, Kent.

23 people were then loaded onto a lorry which was subsequently stopped by NCA officers as it approached the ferry port in Dover. The 23, all Bangladeshi nationals, were offloaded. One was arrested by Immigration Enforcement for immigration offences, the rest were found to be in the UK legally and were released.

Three taxi drivers, men aged between 43 and 55, were all separately arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration, as was the 32-year-old Romanian lorry driver.

A 43-year-old man, the suspected ringleader of the network, was also arrested at a location in the New Cross area of London. Around £30,000 cash was also seized from a property.

The operation was supported by the Metropolitan Police Service, Kent Police and the Port of Dover Police.

The criminal group are alleged to have been involved in a number of attempts to move predominantly Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals out of the UK in lorries, in an attempt to avoid border controls and French entry restrictions.

All five were subsequently charged with conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration, and will appear at magistrates’ courts in the Kent and south east London areas today (28 January).

NCA Branch Commander Saju Sasikumar said:

“This operation has been the culmination of an investigation that has been ongoing for a number of months.

“Organised crime groups involved in people smuggling risk the safety of those they transport, and also threaten the border security of both the UK and France.

“Tackling organised immigration crime remains a top priority for the NCA and this investigation is one of around 100 ongoing investigations into networks or individuals in the top tier of this type of criminality.”

Back in November 2025 the NCA issued a warning that criminal gangs are actively recruiting HGV drivers to smuggle migrants both into and out of the UK.

It followed a spike in arrests in Kent which has seen a number of drivers detained as they attempted to board trains or ferries to France whilst carrying people illegally in their vehicles.

People smugglers are known to be targeting drivers, offering them thousands of pounds to transport people across the border in otherwise legitimate loads.