09/08/2025
UK National Crime Agency officers have worked with Bulgarian law enforcement partners to seize a consignment of 25 boats that was due to be transported across Europe for use by people smugglers in the English Channel.
The inflatables were found in a lorry which had just crossed the Bulgarian border at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on 26 July.
The seizure was made as part of an NCA operation, supported by Home Office International Operations (HOIO), targeting supplies of small boat equipment moving into Europe, which generated intelligence leading Bulgarian customs officers to intercept the lorry and discover the consignment.
The boats, when inflated, are around eight metres long, and each would typically have been used to carry 50 to 60 people.
