An Albanian crime boss, a hawala banker and a former police translator are among 24 people smugglers hit with sanctions in the Government’s latest small boat crackdown.
A Chinese company advertising ‘refugee boats’ has also been included on a list of individuals and entities who will have any UK assets frozen and be banned from travelling to Britain in the same way as Russian oligarchs.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy has described the move as a ‘landmark moment in the Government’s work to tackle organised immigration crime (and) reduce irregular migration to the UK’.
The measures aim to target organised crime gangs and disrupt their flow of cash, including freezing bank accounts, property and other assets, to hinder their activities. It will be illegal for UK businesses and banks to deal with anyone named on the list.
But experts warn the sanctions will have little impact given most smugglers do not use traditional banking methods or are based abroad beyond the reach of British officials.
Among those sanctioned today is Bledar Lala, an Albanian who controls the ‘Belgium operations’ of an organised criminal group involved in Channel crossings.
The UK is also sanctioning Alen Basil, a former police translator who went on to lead a large smuggling network in Serbia.
He was subsequently found to be living in a house in Serbia worth more than one million Euros.
Also sanctioned is Mohammed Tetwani, the self-styled ‘King of Horgos’, who brutally oversaw a migrant camp in Horgos, Serbia and led the Tetwani people-smuggling gang.
Tetwani and his followers are known for their violent treatment of refugees who decline their services or cannot pay for them.
The package also includes individuals like Muhammed Khadir Pirot, a hawala banker.
Hawala is an ancient money transfer method that allows small boat migrants to pay smugglers – and the criminals to compensate their associates – without leaving any official record.
Sanctions have also been brought against Weihai Yamar Outdoors Product Co, a Chinese company that has sold dinghies specifically advertised as ‘refugee boats’ on the online marketplace Alibaba.
David Lammy said: ‘From Europe to Asia we are taking the fight to the people-smugglers who enable irregular migration, targeting them wherever they are in the world and making them pay for their actions.
‘My message to the gangs who callously risk vulnerable lives for profit is this: we know who you are, and we will work with our partners around the world to hold you to account.’
But Roger Gherson, managing partner and sanctions expert at Gherson Solicitors, dismissed the sanctions as political theatre.
‘Proposals to use these on people smugglers is nothing more than bluster and an obvious PR exercise for the Government to be seen to be dealing with the problem,’ he told MailOnline.
‘Most of these smugglers will no doubt operate outside of normal banking system in any case, and most probably in cash. To divert limited police and National Crime Agency (NCA) resources to this will only stretch our much-needed resources further.’
Dr Peter Walsh, of the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, said the measures were ‘unlikely to be a game changer’ in small boat crossings – not least because gangs usually operate in foreign countries.
‘They might be restricted in the UK, but if someone can just go elsewhere, then that defeats the whole purpose of the sanctions,’ he told the i.
‘You can ban people from opening bank accounts in the UK… but they’ll open a bank account elsewhere.
‘A lot of the financing for smuggling operates outside of the traditional banking system, using wireless transfers that are notoriously difficult to clamp down on.’
NCA Director General Graeme Biggar said: The NCA is determined to use every tool at our disposal to target, disrupt and dismantle the criminal networks involved in people-smuggling, preventing harm to those they exploit for profit and protecting the UK’s border security.
‘These new sanctions powers will complement that NCA activity. We have worked with the FCDO and partners to progress the designation of these sanctioned persons.
‘They will give the UK a new way of pursuing, undermining and frustrating the operational capability of a wide range of organised immigration crime networks, including those who facilitate or enable offending.’
The Global Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Persons sanctions regime has been introduced through secondary legislation and will be debated by Parliament after the summer.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the sanctions would not deter people from crossing the Channel in small boats, with a record 23,000 arriving so far this year.
‘The truth is you don’t stop the Channel crossings by freezing a few bank accounts in Baghdad or slapping a travel ban on a dinghy dealer in Damascus.
‘Swathes of young men are arriving daily, in boats bought online, guided by traffickers who laugh at our laws and cash in on our weakness,’ he said.
‘2025 has been the worst year on record for illegal boat crossings, with over 23,000 already this year and more than 46,000 since Labour came to power.
‘The gangs aren’t scared – because Labour won’t detain, deport or even pretend to enforce the border. We must deport illegal immigrants immediately on arrival, it is the only way to end the pull factor and deter crossings.’
