UK cops to work with Indian police to smash people smuggling rings

By Nadeem Badshah

BRITISH officers will work with Indian police forces to tackle people smuggling gangs, it has emerged, as experts welcomed the move and called for an overhaul of the immigration rules.

National Crime Agency (NCA) officers are expected to work in cities, including in Delhi and in Punjab, after an agreement between UK and Indian prime ministers Boris Johnson and Narendra Modi, respectively, to crack down on organised illegal migration gangs.

The NCA will help to train Indian officers and a central unit will be launched to share analysis on intelligence and surveillance of criminal mobs.

An exchange programme will also be set up for crime fighters to share expertise on border security and illegal migration.

Up to 100,000 people from India are estimated to be living in the UK illegally, out of an estimated 1.2 million undocumented migrants in Britain.

Gurpal Virdi, a former detective sergeant for the Metropolitan Police, said British police have always had good relations with their Indian counterparts.

He told Eastern Eye: “People smuggling is a big, profitable business with smugglers using different methods and the police playing catch up.

“The government needs to make Britain ‘less attractive’ for illegals – that is, not to hand out benefits, free legal aid or granting blanket amnesty – when numbers are high and (they should be) enforcing immigration laws.

“In Britain, once an illegal person is here, that person is abused by those who run various illegal businesses; this person may survive or ultimately die, leaving a large debt for the family back home.

“Education is necessary and it is for our community to expose these people smugglers and make migration more legal.”

It comes after a report by the Migration Policy Institute warned that illegal immigration was “big business” in India.

Thousands of “visa agencies” are known to operate in the north Indian state of Punjab alone, charging fees for advice on how to reach the UK.

In 2019, the top five most commonly referred nationalities of modern slavery and trafficking to the Home Office were UK, Albanian, Vietnamese, Chinese and Indian nationals, according to last year’s UK Annual Report on Modern Slavery.

Since 2018, people of Indian heritage have replaced Romanians in the top five.

Derbyshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner for the past five years, Hardyal Dhindsa, told Eastern Eye: “India and the UK have a shared history and I welcome these talks between the two countries to boost cooperation on crime, trade, health, education and other areas. I also welcome the National Crime Agency working closely with India’s police and immigration organisations to tackle illegal immigration and criminality.

“However, I hope that controlled immigration would be boosted between the two countries for trade and access to education. So it is disappointing that there is a cap on 18 to 30-year-olds allowed to live in each other’s countries for two years, similar to an arrangement the UK has with Australia and New Zealand.

“It seems unfair that India will be capped at 3,000 cases per year – much less generous than the arrangements for Australia and New Zealand.”

The deal agreed in May is part of a wider “2030 road map” to boost cooperation on areas, including crime, trade and immigration between the two nations.

More than 53,000 students from India came to the UK to study last year, up 42 per cent on the previous year, according to the Home Office.

Nearly a quarter of all international students in the UK are from India.

Rani Bilkhu, founder of the Jeena International charity based in Berkshire, which supports trafficking victims, said: “I welcome the initiative, but am cautious about the commitment of authorities abroad, especially when it comes to women. It is a good idea, but there also needs to be a whole strategy so people in India knows what’s going on about human trafficking. “

I know a woman in the UK originally from India who got married into domestic servitude and trafficking. She was threatened with rape by her father-in law; her parents said, ‘do not come back no matter what’ as they are from a poor village background.

“There should also be a cultural change at grassroots level to ensure communities inform authorities of abuse without fear and confidence.”

Meanwhile, asylum seekers will be barred from taking their appeals to judicial review in an attempt to speed up deportations under plans announced by ministers last week (May 11).

Currently, decisions by the upper tribunal about immigration cases can be referred to the high court. The government wants to make the upper tribunal the final court for migration cases.

Figures from the Ministry of Justice show that of more than 5,500 judicial reviews of upper tribunal cases analysed by the review, only 12 were upheld.

Jaffer Latief Najar, from the International Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands, believes India’s efforts to address human trafficking need to be toughened.

He said: “Given the colonial legacy and the continuing concerns arising from successive attempts at law reform, it appears that the current intervention to tackle human trafficking in India by only establishing Anti-Human Trafficking Units (AHTUs) is not enough.

“India’s strategy to tackle human trafficking and migrant workers’ crisis should not completely and only depend on law enforcement institutions like AHTUs. Instead, it also requires a rights-based reform that dismantles the colonial legacy of the law which conflates human trafficking and sex work and migration.”

On the agreement struck between prime ministers Johnson and Modi, the Home Office said both countries “recognise the importance of identifying and acting against the drivers of immigration crime leading to illegal migration between the participants’ countries” and “improve inter-agency cooperation and develop strategic dialogue and technical and operational co-operation within the framework of their respective laws and regulations to combat illegal migration and strengthen border security.”

The Home Office added both countries will “enhance engagement and information sharing between competent authorities in strengthening border security, including exchanging officers responsible for dismantling illegal migration and migrants’ exploitation networks.”