Brexit's policy to tighten our borders hasn't - and won't - reduce serious crime in the UK, a top academic has warned.
Organised crime groups (OCGs) have continued to exploit people - including through human trafficking - desperately trying to enter the UK since the Brexit vote. Although the Government states in official documents that "the Brexit deal will give the people of the United Kingdom back control of their borders", academics assert people haven't been deterred from attempting to reach the UK.
Dr Mohammed Rahman, senior lecturer in Criminology at Birmingham City University, told the Mirror Brexit has made it easier for OCGs in the UK to operate and expand their enterprises. He added: "There is no significant evidence to suggest that the tightening of borders in the UK as a result of Brexit has reduced serious and organised crime. The problem still remains in the sense that transnational organised crime is prevalent in the UK.
"While Brexit has made it increasingly difficult for people to freely travel into the UK from abroad, it hasn't necessarily deterred people from doing so. This is something that criminal groups have picked up on and subsequently exploited."
Less than three years after some 17 million voted to leave the European Union (EU), the bodies of the migrants - 28 men, eight women and three children aged between 15 and 44 - were found "closely packed" inside a sealed HGV container as steam poured from the back of it in Grays, Essex.
The migrants had been trafficked by an organised gang, the leader of which, Vo Van Hong, was jailed for 15 years in 2022. A court heard he was responsible for running a criminal organisation that had smuggled at least 115 people across the Channel between September 2018 and May 2020. The latter month was nearly four years after the Brexit vote. The four people-smugglers, including Gheorghe Nica and Ronan Hughes, were jailed for 78 years for the killings in 2021.
And Dr Rahman, who has had books and peer-reviewed articles published internationally on OCGs, believes this case is just one example of the human trafficking challenge, which still remains despite Brexit. The academic added: "The problem still remains in the sense that transnational organised crime is prevalent in the UK. We still have an issue of human trafficking, and an extreme example of this is the 2019 Essex lorry deaths.
"Dealing with organised crime in the UK has become more challenging due to limited information sharing between UK agencies and their EU counterparts. It’s a direct consequence of Brexit, which has had numerous negative impacts."
Yet the Government says, in public correspondence which was presented to Parliament by then Prime Minister Theresa May ahead of the UK's official departure from the EU, the deal "takes back control of our borders, our laws and our money, and protects our economy, our security, and our United Kingdom".
The new immigration system, referred to in the document, has seen the Government try several measures, including the creation of the Rwanda Bill, which was passed on December 12. Minutes before the vote dozens of right-wing Tory MPs said they would not support the PM's attempt to salvage the costly Rwanda scheme, designed to send asylum seekers who arrive illegally in Britain to the African nation. Boris Johnson designed the scheme to deter migrants from making the dangerous journey of about 20 miles (32 km) across the English Channel in small boats or inflatable dinghies.
But Dr Rahman felt the narrative the Government presented with such documents was "problematic" - and says it is now suffering the consequences with OCGs exploiting victims. He believes the lure for crooks to work in OCGs is rising due to the cost-of-living crisis too.
The lecturer continued: "I clearly remember the narrative presented by central government during the Brexit process regarding organised crime. It was portrayed as a foreign problem, largely attributed to relaxed immigration policies, which led to the emphasis on tightening our borders. I found this perspective problematic because the UK has a long history of domestic organised crime.
"There is evidence to suggest according to the National Crime Agency that burglaries, car thefts and robberies have accelerated as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. These crimes tend to take place at a local level, often by groups on a habitual basis. In most cases, they are high risk and low reward in contrast to traditional modes of organised crime."
The Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime (GITOC), set up in 2013 in Switzerland, seeks new and innovative strategies and responses to organised crime. Dr Rahman provided data on criminal activities in the UK for a recent GITOC report on organised crime, which will allow policymakers and agencies to establish where vulnerabilities lie.
The report shows the UK has jumped from 99th to 61st in a league table of organised crime - the OC Index . In 2021, the OC Index gave the UK a criminality score of 4.89 but this year, the UK's score is 5.45. Dr Rahman added: "Fortunately, GITOC can serve as a valuable resource for understanding the current global organised crime landscape, its connections to the UK, and strategies for addressing it."