UK and Belgian police will gain faster, autonomous access to intelligence under a new cross-border agreement designed to disrupt the criminal networks behind small boat crossings and
other organised crime.
Britain and Belgium have agreed to deepen operational co-operation against the criminal organisations exploiting the English Channel, with a new law-enforcement pact designed to accelerate intelligence sharing and give investigators greater freedom to act across borders.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin signed the UK-Belgium Law Enforcement Cooperation Agreement (LECA) on Thursday, creating a framework intended to remove delays that have previously hampered investigations into migrant smuggling and other serious organised crime.
The agreement will allow police in Britain and Belgium to exchange intelligence more rapidly and, in relevant cases, without having to seek prior judicial approval for information that previously required formal authorisation.
The move reflects a growing recognition in London and Brussels that the business behind Channel crossings is not confined to the beaches and departure points where small boats eventually reach the water. Investigators increasingly regard the smuggling trade as a multinational criminal enterprise involving logistics, finance, transport, equipment suppliers and recruitment networks operating across several European countries.
Mahmood said the agreement would help British and Belgian authorities "tighten the net" around the gangs responsible for small boat crossings.
She argued that the smuggling networks extend far beyond northern France and require sustained international co-operation to dismantle them.
The Home Secretary also pointed to a recent decline in small boat crossings while warning that the government intends to maintain pressure on the organised criminal groups profiting from illegal migration.
Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin described Britain as a close neighbour and partner, saying law-enforcement co-operation between the two countries had already produced tangible results.
He said the agreement would strengthen their ability to tackle both migrant smuggling and drug-related organised crime, which he described as threats operating on both sides of national borders.
More than 50 arrests this year
The new framework comes after a series of joint UK-Belgian operations targeting suspected people-smuggling networks.
More than 50 arrests connected to migrant smuggling and more than 40 vehicle seizures have been recorded through joint enforcement activity this year, according to the British government. Investigators continue to pursue the wider criminal networks believed to be organising dangerous crossings of the Channel.
One recent case illustrates the international nature of the operation.
Belgian authorities sentenced organised crime facilitator Adem Savas to 11 years in prison and imposed a €400,000 fine after finding him responsible for supplying thousands of boats and engines to criminal networks involved in Channel smuggling.
Savas was arrested at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in November 2024 following a joint investigation involving Britain's National Crime Agency and Belgian authorities.
For London, the case demonstrates the value of pursuing the infrastructure supporting small boat crossings rather than focusing solely on migrants arriving on British shores.
National Crime Agency International Director Will Middleton said Belgium was among the UK's most important law-enforcement partners and that officers from the two countries already worked together daily against organised crime.
The new agreement, he said, would allow that partnership to expand, particularly in investigations involving drug trafficking, firearms smuggling and people smuggling.
NCA expands its organised immigration crime operation
The agreement also comes as the UK government significantly expands its specialist resources devoted to organised immigration crime.
The Home Office said last month that the number of dedicated National Crime Agency officers had risen from 276 at the beginning of 2025 to almost 800, representing a substantial increase in Britain's capacity to pursue the criminal organisations operating behind irregular migration routes.
International co-operation has also contributed to the seizure of more than 1,100 boats and engines since the election, according to the government.
The strategic challenge for Britain is increasingly shifting from intercepting individual crossings to disrupting the criminal supply chain behind them.
That means targeting the people who finance smuggling operations, manufacture or distribute boats and engines, arrange transportation, recruit customers and move money across European borders.
The UK-Belgium agreement is intended to make that pursuit faster by giving investigators a more direct mechanism for exchanging intelligence and building a fuller picture of criminal organisations operating across jurisdictions.
For London and Brussels, the message is clear: the fight against Channel smuggling will increasingly be conducted not only at Europe's coastlines, but through the intelligence, financial and criminal networks that sustain the trade across borders. Photo by Kevin.B, Wikimedia commons.
