Displaying items by tag: Channel Tunnel

Border Force stopped a lorry on its way to Kent through the Channel Tunnel carrying cocaine with a street value of £33m concealed in a 418kg load of frozen onion rings. Lorry driver Piotr Perzenowski, 30, from Poland, was charged with smuggling Class A drugs and is remanded in custody until 13 December. See Also appearing in court on that day is a 19-year-old suspected county line drug dealer caught by Kent police, who seized heroin, cocaine, cash and criminal property.  Also, ‘Happy Families’ smuggler Michael Sloan was jailed this week after heroin worth £2m was seized from his camper van as he and his family returned to Dover Eastern Docks from Europe. Forensic experts said the heroin was between 44% and 59% pure, and once adulterated would value £1.98 million. Heroin is closely linked to county lines’ type exploitation and violence.

Five Albanians who smuggled migrants through the Channel Tunnel were arrested and held in London; two more arrests were in Surrey and Oxfordshire. Migrants are concealed behind furniture in vehicles hired specially for illegal smuggling, using a network of connections across Europe. Migrants paid as much as £25,000, believing they will go on to work in the illegal economy once in Britain. Commander Richard Harrison said the gang had risked the safety of the migrants and threatened the security of the UK border. Pray for these arrests to lead to further dismantling of criminal tunnel networking. Recently 430 migrants crossed the English Channel in one day. The Home Office has said it was taking substantial steps to tackle the unacceptable problem of illegal migration. A bill is currently being considered by MPs which would mean that migrants entering without permission could face up to four years in prison.