British police smash huge people-trafficking gang

A people-trafficking gang thought to have smuggled up to 100,000 Turks into the United Kingdom was targeted in a huge police operation yesterday.

Eight of the suspected leaders of what detectives described as the most prolific people smuggling network ever encountered by British police were arrested during early morning raids.

Police believe the Europe-wide network had been paid tens of millions of pounds to smuggle up to 100,000 mainly Turkish Kurds into the UK during the past few years.

The economic immigrants paid between £3,000 and £5,000 to be illegally brought into Britain via an elaborate route lasting several weeks and involving safe houses, lorries with secret compartments, and in some cases clandestine flights to airfields in Cambridgeshire and Kent.

Once in Britain, most have simply been absorbed into north London's Turkish community, working in low-paid, menial jobs in the capital's hidden market economy.

Some were given stolen or forged UK papers, and many use the money they earn to sponsor other family members to make the gruelling trip.

Scotland Yard said the smuggled people are concentrated in north London, particularly in areas such as Wood Green and Hackney.

A national network has also been established with Turkish communities in Liverpool, Manchester and Doncaster, according to a community leader.

About 200 police officers took part in yesterday's co-ordinated raids at houses and business premises across London, in Enfield, Bexleyheath, Barnet, Haringey, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Hammersmith, and Boston in Lincolnshire.

Specialist officers also searched the properties and a substantial amount of cash, believed to be as much as several hundred thousand pounds, was recovered.

The eight suspected ringleaders are all Turkish asylum seekers who had been granted leave to remain in the UK.

The smuggling ring is estimated to have made tens of millions of pounds from the racket, some of which has been invested in businesses such as property, cafes and snooker halls.

Much of the money has been taken out of the country and police are still trying to trace where it has gone.

It is estimated the gang could have made up to £100,000 from a lorry-load of 20 migrants.

Yesterday's 5am raids were the result of a two-year Scotland Yard investigation, codenamed Bluesky, which involved cooperation from law enforcement agencies in France, Italy, Holland, Belgium and Denmark, and Europol.

A further 11 people were also arrested on other charges, including immigration offences and money laundering.

Two of those arrested were women.

Detective Chief Superintendent Bill Skelly said the network was the largest people smuggling ring Scotland Yard had encountered and said the operation was the most significant mounted so far to tackle organised immigration crime in London.

Police have intervened 20 times in the gang's smuggling operations in the last three years in attempts to disrupt its activities.

The gang is thought to have been operating for several years before the police became aware of its activities.

The number of the Turks living illegally in Britain is unknown.

The Office of National Statistics says that it recorded 52,893 Turks living in Britain in the 2001 census, although this is considered a significant underestimate.

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, head of the Metropolitan Police's Specialist Crime Directorate, added: "We have today dismantled a huge organised criminal network of human smuggling.

"We have been working on this operation for two years and we have worked with agencies across Europe.

It is a massive operation."Mr Ghaffur said the raids were aimed at those "right at the top of this network" at what he called the "Mr Bigs".

He said the racket targeted mainly Turkish Kurds who hoped to come to Britain for a better life, and who were often aided by family and friends already living in this country.

"Once here, some of these people get into low-paid jobs, others are clearly left to their own devices to find work," he said.

Mr Ghaffur added that those who benefited from the racket were those at the head of the smuggling ring.

Eight men were held on suspicion of facilitating human smuggling - four in Enfield, one in Hackney, one in Bexleyheath, one in Hammersmith, all in London, and one in Boston, Lincolnshire.

Two women were arrested on suspicion of interfering with the inquiry - one in Hackney and one in Bexleyheath.

A total of six people were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences.

Another man was held in Bexleyheath on suspicion of money-laundering offences.

Two people were arrested on suspicion of theft.

- THE INDEPENDENT