The UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) has rescued 23 Bangladeshi nationals who were being smuggled from London to France inside a lorry, exposing a large organised human trafficking network based in east London’s Tower Hamlets.
According to a report by the BBC on Wednesday, the rescue took place during a special NCA operation near the Port of Dover. During the operation, officers searched a lorry and found the Bangladeshis concealed inside.
NCA officials said that 22 of the rescued individuals were legally residing in the UK but attempted the dangerous journey to bypass France’s strict entry requirements.
The operation led to the arrest of a 43-year-old man from New Cross, believed to be the ringleader of the trafficking network. Officers also seized £30,000 in cash.
Investigators said the group had been involved in people smuggling between the UK and France for several years, posing a significant threat to national security.
The probe revealed that the network had deep links within the British-Bangladeshi business community in Tower Hamlets. Several suspects had declared bankruptcy on paper while secretly operating multiple businesses in the names of their spouses and close relatives.
The proceeds from human trafficking were allegedly laundered through these businesses over the past 15 years, enabling those involved to accumulate substantial wealth. Once known as small traders, the suspects are now described by investigators as “disguised millionaires.”
Private taxi drivers were also found to be integral to the operation. Three drivers, aged between 43 and 55, were identified as having transported migrants from different parts of London to a covert location in Whitstable, Kent. From there, the migrants were transferred to lorries bound for Dover, a tactic that allowed the group to evade law enforcement for an extended period.
The NCA is currently investigating around 100 serious immigration-related offences. Officials say the Tower Hamlets-based network is among the most extensive and complex people-smuggling operations the agency has encountered.