UK bid to close new Balkans route used by people smugglers

DRONES and night vision goggles will be given to police in the western Balkans to “slash” the number of illegal migrants reaching northern France, we can reveal.

- By Michael Knowles

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood vowed to “deploy the most sophisticated technology” in the region as it is one of the most popular smuggling routes.

At least 22,000 people are feared to have passed through it last year.

The National Crime Agency will begin providing law enforcement agencies in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia with “real-time” intelligence on the smuggling kingpins in the region.

A Whitehall source said they know some of the smugglers but cannot arrest them unless they travel into Britain, or to an area where the UK has stronger law enforcement partnerships.