Home Office unveils ‘smash the gangs’ plan as migrant Channel crossings up 25% [Video]

Suspected people smugglers will face a raft of strict new measures aimed at breaking up the “vile” gangs that traffic migrants across the Channel, the Home Office announced on Thursday.

New court orders will mean those under suspicion of people trafficking could be prevented from using a laptop or mobile phone, using social media, associating with certain people, or accessing their bank accounts.

This includes the 1,325 migrants who made the journey between Boxing Day and December 29 in 27 vessels, according to Home Office data. The total is down 20 per cent on the record 45,774 arrivals in 2022, however.

Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPOs) can already be used to curb the movement of people involved in organised immigration crime.

But the Government argues that the measures are not being used to their full effect. It plans to introduce new “interim” SCPOs designed to place “immediate” restrictions on suspects’ activity while a …