First Raids Uncover Secret Warehouses
Joint operation with France and the UK seizes over 9,000 life jackets and dozens of inflatable boats. The trail leads to Kurdish networks in western Germany.
Joint operation with France and the UK seizes over 9,000 life jackets and dozens of inflatable boats. The trail leads to Kurdish networks in western Germany.
Germany has for the first time applied a new law targeting smuggling organizations that use the country as a staging point for the illegal crossing of migrants across the English Channel, conducting searches. As reported by the BBC, in an operation carried out in the spring of 2026 in North Rhine-Westphalia, involving Germany, France, and the United Kingdom, more than 9,000 life jackets, dozens of inflatable boats with engines, and 360 pumps were seized.
According to an assessment by the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA), the seized equipment could have transported more than 2,000 migrants. BBC journalists were given the opportunity to see a secret police warehouse where inflatable boats, about nine meters long, were stored. It is estimated that each such boat could carry approximately 65 people, which is consistent with the observed increase in the number of passengers per vessel.
According to the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, stronger police surveillance leads smugglers to pack as many people as possible onto boats. The warehouse also contains thousands of life jackets that, as the BBC describes, contain foam-like material and are not suitable for protection on the open sea. Much of this equipment is manufactured in China and is often brought to Europe via Turkey.
Smuggling groups have for years used warehouses in western Germany before moving equipment to northern France. In December 2025, Berlin changed the law, making it a criminal offense for the first time to assist in the smuggling of migrants to the United Kingdom. The Interior Ministry confirmed that the spring raids were the first use of these new powers.
Lawyer Bernhard Schmeilzl, specializing in German-British law, believes that the new law restores the possibilities that existed before Brexit for German police to more effectively prosecute smugglers. "German police can now go after these people. If they receive information about such activities, they will have to investigate," he told the BBC.
British investigators believe that Kurdish criminal networks have strong control over small boat smuggling in western Germany, an important logistics hub due to its proximity to northern France. A German official said that criminal groups operate from Germany mainly because many of their members live there. The BBC learned from police sources and migrants that smuggling networks are under increasing pressure across Europe, including in Germany.
The UK Home Office claims that cooperation with Germany is yielding results, noting that from January 1 to August 8, 2026, the number of Channel crossings decreased by approximately 43 percent compared to the same period the previous year. The opposition, however, believes that the main reason is worse sea conditions, not government measures.
According to Rybar, a Russian Telegram channel that covers security topics, customs officers recently found 20 undeclared inflatable boats hidden between mattresses at the Turkish-Bulgarian border. The truck driver was en route to Germany, confirming the route by which smuggling equipment enters the EU.
