People smuggling

'Britain's FBI' smash Kurdish gang smuggling illegal immigrants into UK for £10,000 a time as they arrest 21 in dawn raids on homes and car washes

Police have arrested more than 20 people around in a huge operation to tackle a Kurdish gang smuggling hundreds of illegal immigrants into the UK for up to £10,000-a-time.

More than 300 officers coordinated by the National Crime Agency, often called 'Britain's FBI', raided properties in Northumbria, Cleveland, Sussex and London this morning and arrested suspected traffickers.

Officers at a briefing at Cleveland Police's HQ in Middlesbrough were told they were looking to arrest two specific men in Teesside, thought to be ringleaders.

It is thought hundreds of Iraqi Kurds, men, women and children, have been brought into the UK by the gang, paying up to £10,000 each. 

Many were brought on lorries travelling through the Channel Tunnel, while other trucks were driven onto ferries.

At least 16 people were arrested on Teesside, two in London, two in Hastings, Sussex and one in Northumbria. All of those detained have been arrested on suspicion of immigration offences and money laundering.