British Immigration Enforcement officers arrested 49 people in just three days as part of a sweeping operation aimed at gangs smuggling migrants from Ireland into the United Kingdom. The Home Office announced the results on September 29, saying the week of action formed part of a wider effort to shut down abuse of the Common Travel Area that has existed between the two islands for generations.
The arrests were made between Tuesday, September 22, and Thursday, September 24, when law enforcement agencies patrolled seaports, airports, roads, and rail networks across Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales. The action fell under Operation Comby, a multi-agency campaign focused on people who have crossed from Ireland into the UK outside of immigration rules.
According to the Home Office, Operation Comby has resulted in more than 250 arrests of organized criminals and immigration offenders since the last general election, with 113 of those people removed from the UK. The operation has also led to the seizure of almost half a million pounds in cash.
The near-invisible border that has long allowed free movement across the island, the Common Travel Area, is the arrangement at the center of all this. It permits British and Irish citizens to travel between the two countries without passport controls, and British officials say organized crime groups have been exploiting that openness as a back door into the UK.
Minister for Border Security and Asylum Anna Turley said in a statement, published on the UK government website, that officials are closing in on the gangs behind the trade.
"We are bearing down on these organized criminal gangs who operate on wicked lies and deception," she said, adding that anyone who believes they can get around British immigration law will quickly discover otherwise.
Read more
One case highlighted by the Home Office involved two Romanian women arrested at Belfast International Airport after traveling from Ireland into Northern Ireland without the required permissions. Follow-up checks suggested both may have been victims of human trafficking, and officers gathered intelligence on the criminals who pushed them into making the journey. One woman was detained for removal to Romania, while the other returned voluntarily to Ireland.
In a separate incident, Belfast Harbour Police stopped a vehicle at Belfast Port carrying four Romanian nationals after intelligence was shared between agencies. A search turned up counterfeit Apple products valued at around £130,000, and all four people in the car were arrested and now face removal.
Read more
Eddy Montgomery, Director of Enforcement, Compliance and Crime, described the approach as intelligence-driven. As reported by the Irish News, he said the heart of the work is "protecting vulnerable people and ensuring the criminal gangs who exploit them are brought down."
The Home Office said that between July 2024 and June 2026, Immigration Enforcement carried out almost 3,000 enforcement visits in Northern Ireland, leading to more than 2,400 arrests. Nearly 1,000 people were subsequently returned, with roughly 500 of those sent back to Ireland.
Watch this Sky News report on "How smugglers are exploiting UK-Ireland travel rules":
Comments