Editorial & Advertiser disclosure

Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website.

Headlines

UK sanctions target people smugglers, small boat dealer in migrant crackdown

Published by Global Banking and Finance Review

Posted on July 23, 2025

Featured image for article about Headlines

LONDON (Reuters) -Britain announced sanctions on Wednesday on 24 people and one company it said were involved in people smuggling, as part of efforts to cut the number of migrants arriving on small boats.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised to "smash the gangs" behind irregular migration when he came to power last year. But the number of migrants coming across the Channel jumped nearly 50% to 20,000 in the first six months of 2025 from the same period last year.

The new sanctions regime, first outlined in January, will target those who supply and finance small boats, forge fake documents and funnel cash through an underground payment system known as Hawala, the government said.

"From Europe to Asia we are taking the fight to the people-smugglers who enable irregular migration, targeting them wherever they are in the world and making them pay for their actions," foreign minister David Lammy said in a statement.

The sanctions are designed to disrupt the flow of money by freezing property and bank accounts, the government said. It named seven Iraqi-linked individuals it said were involved in people smuggling, as well as eight people from the Balkans who supply fake passports.

Sanctions were also imposed on a company in China which advertises its small boats online explicitly for the purpose of people smuggling, as well as on a number of people who work from Belgium and Serbia, and who were described as "gangland bosses" by Britain.

Separately, Britain's interior ministry said it would share the locations of accommodation used by asylum seekers with food delivery firms, part of a plan to tackle illegal work which is often promised to migrants by gangs operating small boats.

The agreement with Deliveroo, Just Eat and Uber Eats would help the food delivery firms to detect misuse and identify unauthorised sharing of accounts used by riders, the Home Office said.

(Reporting by Sarah Young and William Schomberg; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Edwina Gibbs)