Five people were arrested as part of a National Crime Agency operation on Monday.
Two suspected ringleaders of a gang accused of smuggling migrants into the UK including 46 intercepted on a boat in the English Channel have been arrested.
A 34-year-old man from Grays, Essex, and a 34-year-old man from Dagenham, east London, were detained in dawn raids on Monday on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration.
Investigators from the National Crime Agency allege the group charged between £2,500 and £7,500 each time to bring migrants to the UK.
The group of 46, including young children, were on a boat that set off from the French coast last August.
Among them was also a convicted rapist who had previously been deported from the UK and has since been deported again.
The group is also accused of using lorries to smuggle people into the country on three occasions between October and November 2022, travelling from Coquelles, France, and stopping off at service stations in Cobham and Thurrock to drop them off.
A 55-year-old man from Belgium who was allegedly the driver of the lorry was arrested in Folkestone, Kent, on Monday.
Two other men were arrested on suspicion of unlawful entry to the UK in north London.
Chris Farrimond, director of threat leadership at the NCA, said: “We have dismantled a suspected organised crime group behind a number of dangerous migrant crossings last year.
“People smugglers do not care about the safety of those they transport, they seek to exploit them for profit.
“Tackling organised immigration crime is a priority for the NCA and we have more than 90 ongoing investigations into networks based here and overseas causing the highest harm.
“As we target callous organised criminal gangs, we will not hesitate to also pursue HGV drivers complicit in helping them.”
