Inflatable boats set to carry 1,700 illegal migrants across Channel seized
Twenty-five inflatable boats capable of carrying 1,700 illegal migrants, which were being shipped to people smuggling gangs operating in the English Channel have been intercepted in Bulgaria. Customs officers in the Eastern European country, who work closely with the National Crime Agency to track and stop consignments of small boat equipment shipped through the country, made two separate seizures. Five boats were found in an HGV attempting to enter Bulgaria at the Lesovo border crossing after the NCA and Home Office International Operations shared intelligence with Bulgarian partners through the NCA’s international network. Then, two days later on Friday 26 June, a further 20 boats were found in another lorry at the same crossing in a consignment that was being shipped to Germany.
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Germany is a well-known storage location and staging post for equipment used by people smugglers.
Had the boats made it to the Channel the NCA estimates they could have been used to transport more over 1,700 people to the UK.
NCA International Head of Region Kenny Dron said: “Bulgaria is a key partner for the NCA in our work to disrupt the supply chains used by people smuggling networks, and we are extremely grateful for their support and work which led to these seizures.
“Although it is happening thousands of miles away, this work is impacting the crime groups, making it more difficult for them to source equipment, costing them money and ultimately stopping these dangerous unseaworthy boats being used to put lives at risk in the English Channel.
“Targeting the gangs’ business models is a priority for us, and the NCA has worked with international partners to seize more than 1,000 boats and engines since early 2023, with more than 500 seized in 2025.”
The targeting, disrupting and dismantling the networks involved in organised immigration crime remains a priority for the NCA, with more than 100 investigations ongoing into individuals or groups involved.
The NCA say it is devoting more resource to the issue than ever before, working with international partners to target organised crime groups at every step of the route, in source countries, in transit countries such as Greece, Italy and Bulgaria, near the UK border in France and Belgium, and those operating inside the UK itself.
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, said: “Thanks to the efforts of the National Crime Agency, Home Office intelligence teams and our Bulgarian partners, we have stopped thousands of potential crossings.
“We are restoring order and control to UK borders by cracking down on the supply of small boat equipment and breaking the criminal gangs’ business model.
“Under this government, disruptions to criminal smuggling activity including arrests, convictions and seizures are up nearly 50%.”