The National Crime Agency and Border Force seized 25 inflatable boats bound for Channel migrant smugglers in an air freight consignment at East Midlands Airport on Friday, October 2. The nine-meter vessels, intercepted while being transported from Turkey to the Netherlands, had the capacity to carry about 1,700 migrants across the Channel.

This marks the first time such a detection has been made via an air freight route and the second seizure of a large boat consignment in the UK in 2026, following a July confiscation at Felixstowe. "I have no doubt that the vessels we have been able to confiscate here would have otherwise been used to endanger the lives of thousands of people in the Channel, had we not intervened," said Craig Turner, deputy director of investigations at the NCA.

Turner added that the broader operation has resulted in the confiscation of over 1,600 boats and engines, driving up prices and reducing criminal profit margins. Border Security Minister Anna Turley stated the seizure is another blow to smuggling gangs during a summer with the fewest small boat landings since 2020 and a 74 percent rise in immigration crime arrests.

The NCA reports that it currently has around 100 gangs under investigation for organised immigration crime.