British Prime Minister Starmer wants to treat human smugglers as terrorists

Britain’s Labor government wants to treat human smuggling gangs as terrorist groups. Prime Minister Starmer also plans to double the budget of the new border protection agency BSC to £150 million.

Starmer will announce these measures in a speech today. He will speak at a meeting of the international police organization Interpol. International media coverage of parts of the speech published by the government.

Just like the previous government, when the Conservative Party was in power, Starmer is making dealing with illegal immigration one of the headlines in his policy.

Last month, the centre-left leader praised Italy’s radical right Prime Minister Meloni for succeeding in dramatically reducing the number of migrants arriving in the country by boat. This caused criticism from some members of his Labor Party in the United Kingdom.

“There is nothing positive about looking away as men, women and children die in the Channel,” Starmer said tomorrow according to The Guardian newspaper. “We are using our anti-terrorism approach, which we know works, and applying it to the gangs,” he said, referring to people smugglers. Many still unsure about the details of the plans.

This year, more than 31,000 migrants have crossed the dangerous sea route between France and England. More than 56 people were killed, according to the French authorities. This is the deadliest year since the number of attempted crossings increased significantly in 2018, writes the AP news agency.

“The world needs to wake up,” says Interpol’s Starmer. His application is intended to achieve greater international cooperation between investigative bodies.

The extra money for the Border Security Command body, which was set up by Labor this year, is intended, among other things, for surveillance equipment. There will also be one hundred investigative officers who will focus specifically on smuggling networks.