British border security officers have been sent to the Balkans as part of a new attempt to crack down on people traffickers, the Home Secretary has announced.
Shabana Mahmood said the officials would look at whether UK teams could eventually be deployed permanently in the region.
A large proportion of small boat migrants travel by land through the Balkans on their way to the French coast and ultimately to Britain.
The British taxpayer will also pay for equipment including drones and night vision goggles which will be used by Balkan law enforcement teams to hunt traffickers, the Home Office said.
It comes despite Britain handing the French government more than £650million to combat small boats since 2018, to little effect.
Despite the huge investment the number of migrants crossing the Channel has soared past 175,000 since the start of the crisis – including more than 36,000 so far this year, up a third on the same point in 2024.
The number to have arrived under Labour is now 59,607, after nearly 2,000 came last week alone.
Migrants cross the Channel from northern France aboard a 40ft ‘mega dinghy’ last month
It is likely to pass the 60,000 milestone within days, after a short period of heavy weather on the Channel.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer scrapped the Tories’ Rwanda asylum deal as one of his first acts in power last year.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced British officers and equipment will be sent to the Western Balkans in a bid to clamp down on human traffickers
The scheme had been designed to deter migrants from crossing the Channel by sending them on a one-way journey to the east African nation to claim asylum there rather than here.
Labour’s flagship scheme, a ‘one in, one out’ deal to return migrants to France, has so far seen only 26 migrants sent back, while more than 10,500 have reached Britain since the scheme came into force.
Ms Mahmood said: ‘Criminal gangs have turned the Western Balkans into a major transit route for illegal migration.
‘I have instructed UK law enforcement to explore all options including deploying operations in the West Balkans to tackle illegal migration routes.
‘I have pledged to do whatever it takes to secure our borders. That is exactly what I am doing.’
A Home Office spokesman said the move could lead to ‘additional UK law enforcement deployments on Western Balkans soil’ to use ‘UK expertise to disrupt people smuggling networks’.
The UK is also sharing techniques to help combat visa and passport fraud in the Balkans, which includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
It comes after Ms Mahmood hosted a summit in London of interior ministers from the region.
Almost 22,000 migrants were smuggled along routes through the Western Balkans region last year alone.
Martin Hewitt, the Home Office’s Border Security Commander, said: ‘By working together – sharing intelligence and aligning strategies, we will target and dismantle the criminal gangs, who exploit the vulnerable and negatively impact our communities.’
