Most migrants are fleeing poverty and will do whatever they’re asked for, a smuggler said (Image: Getty)
Iran has been accused of using people-smuggling routes across the English Channel to move suspected covert operatives into Britain, it has been revealed. Individuals with alleged links to Tehran’s intelligence agencies have been intercepted by UK authorities while attempting to enter the country on small boats, with people smugglers claiming the Iranian regime helped facilitate migrants’ journeys from camps around Calais in return for a future “favour” once they had settled in Britain.
Some smuggling routes were allegedly “owned” by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with suspected operatives linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security using them to reach the UK, according to Tehran’s officials.
An Iranian official told The Telegraph: “At the moment we have people right there in London, revolutionary people who care about the world and the lives of children – they wait for us to tell them what to do. We have not done that yet, but we can easily make London unsafe for you if we want to.
“These smuggling routes are more important and useful than the missiles for us – we do not need a missile to target London, it’s easier than that.”
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps reportedly ‘own’ some of the human trafficking routes (Image: Getty)
The report comes after Iran threatened to target RAF Fairford following Andy Burnham’s decision to renew permission for the US to use the base for air strikes.
Home Office officials had used drones and AI-equipped surveillance towers to help identify Iranian-linked individuals arriving by small boat. However, officials reportedly believe more people linked to the IRGC enter Britain legally via flights from Europe than by crossing the Channel.
MI5 director-general Ken McCallum warned in October that the agency had tracked “more than 20 potentially lethal Iran-backed plots” over the previous year, adding that Tehran was making “extensive use of criminals”, including drug traffickers, to carry out operations in the UK.
One Iranian smuggler told The Telegraph: “We do not know the extent, but some of the money definitely goes to them. It’s the casual and normal route people take but run in the background by the Iranian government.”
A second smuggler added: “It’s all drugs as far as I can see and tell you, but of course you [Iran] own the route, which is a great advantage point – you can do what you like.
“For Britain, you hang out in a park in Calais or Dunkirk, then someone who may work for Iran but does not know about it approaches you, then you are in a boat to London in less than a week.
“Most of these people are fleeing poverty and will do whatever favour they’re asked for when they arrive in the UK [in exchange] for a cheaper journey.”
A record 165 migrants reportedly crossed the Channel to the UK in a single boat on Thursday. The number breaks the previous record from July, when 128 crossed to the UK from France in one vessel.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Our first priority is national security. There are stringent security checks for small boat arrivals. Those identified as a threat will be detained immediately and we will do everything in our power to remove them at the earliest opportunity.
“On top of these robust processes, we have fast-tracked a change in the law to outlaw support for the IRGC, equipping the police and intelligence service with more powers to disrupt those working on their behalf, and making it easier to prosecute them.”