The United Kingdom is strengthening its partnership with the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to tackle organised immigration crime, particularly as Kurdish criminal groups increasingly dominate smuggling routes into Britain, a spokesperson for the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed to Rudaw on Wednesday.

“We maintain a positive relationship with law enforcement partners in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and work with them against a range of shared threats, including organised immigration crime,” the spokesperson stated.

Kurdish Groups Dominate Smuggling Routes

The NCA’s 2023 assessment identified Kurdish criminal groups, primarily based in northern Europe, as key operators in the lucrative and dangerous cross-Channel migration routes. These routes have become a lifeline for tens of thousands of migrants escaping political instability, corruption, and unemployment in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region.

Recent actions against these networks include a French court sentencing 18 individuals—mostly Kurds from the Kurdistan Region—to prison terms of up to 15 years for running a smuggling operation. In May, Kurdish police in Sulaimani apprehended a man suspected of leading a smuggling network that facilitated illegal migration to the UK.

Multi-National Crackdown

The NCA spokesperson highlighted the agency's global approach to tackling organised crime. “We target and disrupt organised crime groups at every step of the route: in source countries, transit countries such as Greece, Italy, and Turkey, near the UK border in France and Belgium, and those operating inside the UK itself.”

Currently, the NCA has around 70 active investigations into high-priority organised crime groups involved in immigration crime and human trafficking. These cases involve individuals deemed to inflict the highest levels of harm and who are the hardest to apprehend.

Deadly Migration Routes

Every year, thousands risk their lives seeking better opportunities in Europe. In 2023 alone, at least 20,000 people left Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, according to the Summit (Lutka) Foundation for Refugees and Displaced Affairs. Tragically, at least nine migrants died attempting the perilous journey, often crossing the deadly English Channel.

British Labour MP Feryal Clark has called for a reformed immigration system to prevent such tragedies. “The bottom of the English Channel is littered with the hopes and dreams of immigrants... We need a fairer, better way of dealing with immigration,” she told Rudaw in July, advocating for legal migration routes similar to those established for Ukrainians and Afghans.

The UK and Kurdish authorities hope that their coordinated efforts will help dismantle these smuggling networks and provide safer, legal pathways for migration.