Human smuggling should be viewed as 'global security threat similar to terrorism': UK premier

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - The British prime minister on Monday announced an additional £75 million ($97.2 million) to tackle people-smuggling gangs, stressing that human smuggling should be seen as a "global security threat similar to terrorism."

In a speech to the Interpol general assembly in Glasgow, Keir Starmer called on world leaders to "wake up to the severity" of the challenge to border security, posed by smuggling.

Starmer said that he wants to apply a counter-terrorism approach to border security and end "fragmentation between policing, Border Force and intelligence agencies.

"Unless we bring all the powers we have to bear on this in much the same way as we do for terrorism, then we will struggle to bring these criminals to justice," he said.

The prime minister added: "And that, in a sense, is my message here today; people smuggling should be viewed as a global security threat similar to terrorism."

Starmer said that as the prime minister, it is his "personal mission to smash the people smuggling gangs."

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that criminal smuggler gangs profit from "undermining our border security" and putting lives at risk and they have been getting away with it.

"Our new Border Security Command, with the investment set out today, will mean a huge step change in the way we target these criminal gangs," she added.

Some 5,400 migrants crossed the Channel in small boats last month, the highest monthly figure since October 2022, while more than 27,500 people have crossed the Channel this year, more than the same period in 2023.