Migrants living in asylum hotels and boarding houses in the United Kingdom are being targeted by criminal gangs, a British police chief has said. The migrants, most of whom arrive in the United Kingdom after crossing the English Channel in small boats, are being recruited by gangs to be used by criminal organisations.
The gangs, also linked to human and drug trafficking, are believed to account for more than half of the UK's £8.6 billion a year ($10.57 billion) counterfeit goods trade.
Stephen Watson, chief constable of Manchester, said gangs were exploiting migrants by using them for illegal work.
“We need to be clear that there are vulnerable people who are becoming more vulnerable, but there are also some very dark characters who have arrived in the UK and we need to root them out. The poor souls who are being exploited become fodder for organised crime groups. They become a source of employment. They become a group of completely powerless people. These people are being exploited to the point where they are unlikely to develop into stable individuals who will integrate and contribute to our society. They are likely to become damaged people and hardened criminals and, frankly, become a net burden on the state for the rest of their lives,” he told the Daily Telegraph.
So Watson launched “Operation Vulcan” to crack down on these gangs. His team discovered that gang members were paying young and adult immigrants between £10-20 a day to act as decoys and monitor police movements.
"It is clear that in some cases there are strong links between organised crime gangs and illegal immigrants," the home Office Said.
More than 40,000 asylum seekers, of all nationalities, have crossed the English channel to The UK in small boats so far this Year. of these, 11,000 were Albanians.
