A Didcot man was arrested as National Crime Agency officers raided properties nationwide in a bid to bring down a people smuggling ring.

Seven people were arrested in raids in south London, Surrey, Hartlepool and Oxfordshire on Tuesday, July 20.

They included a 26-year-old man arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration, conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration, who was detained in Didcot.

Also among those arrested by the NCA was the alleged ringleader of the trafficking gang.

Officers believe the organised crime network used lorries and rented vans to transport hundreds of Albanian migrants to the UK from northern France illegally.

Between July and December last year, Border Force officers managed to stop six attempts to smuggle people into the country when they searched vehicles at the Channel Tunnel terminal near Calais. Some are said to have paid between £20,000 and £25,000 to be brought to the UK.

NCA Branch Commander Richard Harrison said: “We believe these arrests will have significantly disrupted an organised criminal network responsible for smuggling potentially hundreds of people into the UK illegally.

“The network claimed to provide a top of the range service and charged accordingly, using complicit drivers to transport migrants in hired vehicles.

“This activity represented a significant threat to both the safety of the migrants involved and the security of UK border controls.”

Seven people were arrested on suspicion of various offences, including conspiring to facilitate illegal entry to the UK and money laundering.

Around £30,000 in cash was seized during the raids.

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