UK investigators have taken the fight against small boat smugglers to Germany in a bid to stop essential maritime equipment ending up in the hands of the ruthless gangs.

The National Crime Agency have launched a joint operation with the German Bundespolizei (BPOL) to target equipment suppliers who are helping enable the smuggling gangs 

The move follows a probe which saw a boat and engine sourced by a firm in Lower Saxony seized by BPOL as it was being transported towards the Dutch border on 9 April.

NCA investigators, who were working with German partners, believe its eventual destination would have been people smugglers operating on the northern French coast.

The marine company was previously identified as having supplied numerous inflatable boats and engines which had been used during life-threatening crossings of illegal migrants across the English Channel, but have now been visited by officers and warned about the consequences of continuing to sell to the gangs.

The operation was part of an ongoing drive by UK and German law enforcement to target organised crime supply routes and prevent dangerous boats being put in the water. Across Europe the NCA has worked with partners to seize more than 600 boats and engines in the last 18 months.

NCA Regional Head of Investigation Jacque Beer NCA said: “Last year at least 78 people died attempting to cross the English Channel in small boats. Organised crime groups involved in people smuggling do not care about the safety or welfare of those they transport, viewing migrants as a commodity to be exploited.

“There is no safe way to cross the English Channel – the world's busiest shipping lane – by small boat. Every time a boat goes in the water, the lives of those on board are in peril.

“The marine industry is at risk of abuse from people smugglers attempting to source equipment, including boats and engines, to commit these crimes and put lives at risk. We encourage vigilance, people should follow their gut feeling and report any suspicious behaviour to law enforcement.

“Those who knowingly supply this equipment should know we are targeting them and there will be consequences.”

The move comes after the NCA, dubbed Britain’s FBI, warned it is now fighting against Chinese and Vietnamese encrypted apps which are fuelling an explosion in migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.

They said that despite huge efforts the smugglers cannot be entirely stopped from using social media to advertise journeys across the Channel.

The Agency’s Paul Brisley suggested social media firms such as Tiktok and Facebook still have more work to do to rid their platforms of video adverts which promote crossings across the Channel to Britain.

And he warned apps from China and Vietnam were being used by migrants and smugglers in the far east 6,000 miles away from Calais.

They were causing law enforcement chiefs a headache as they were harder to engage with.

One app in particular called Zalo where smugglers can promote their services and arrange calls and send photos of relevant information.

The app is being used to promote boat crossings where Vietnamese people see and message smugglers in Europe and arrange the crossings.

Mr Brisley said: “There's some huge challenges because some platforms like Zalo, is Vietnamese and there's some Chinese ones as well.

“That makes engagement a lot harder. They're not based in Britain and we don't have that relationship like we do the more established ones.

“There's been an influx of Vietnamese migrants coming on small boats in recent months.

“What the smugglers can do over there is fast-moving. It shows this is a truly geographical crime by scale. It's the 2025 or modern challenge we face.

“It's a platform used over there, they operate differently. They have different vulnerabilities and the smugglers expose that.

“This is an evolving world we live in. Criminals are adapting their tactics to avoid being detected and different apps is a part of that.”

By June 2024, 12,000 adverts promoting crossings had been taken down.

A relationship is in place between X, Facebook, Tiktok and Youtube to crackdown on content which promotes the crossings.

He said: 'We can help them to develop their detection capabilities and also help them moderators understand what they're looking at.”