# Belgium and the UK Strike a Deal to Share Intelligence on Channel Smuggling Gangs

> Interior Minister Bernard Quintin and UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood signed an agreement letting police in both countries swap intelligence without judicial approval, targeting a smuggling trade that increasingly stages boats from Belgian territory.

- Source: Belgium Crown
- Canonical URL: https://belgiumcrown.com/article/belgium-and-the-uk-strike-a-deal-to-share-intelligence-on-channel-smuggling-gangs
- Author: Belgium Crown Staff
- Section: Politics
- Published: 2026-09-11T08:15:40.329Z
- Updated: 2026-09-11T08:15:40.329Z
- Tags: Bernard Quintin, Shabana Mahmood, migration, United Kingdom, smuggling

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Belgium and the United Kingdom have signed an agreement allowing police forces in both countries to share intelligence on people smuggling networks without first seeking judicial approval, a step meant to speed up cross border operations against the gangs behind Channel crossings.

The deal was signed by Belgian Interior Minister Bernard Quintin and UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. Mahmood said the smuggling trade does not start and stop on the beaches of northern France, and that these gangs operate across borders, meaning the UK will work with every international partner available to track them down, shut them down and bring them to justice. As part of the arrangement, Belgian officers will also be able to join the existing UK-France intelligence cell already working out of northern France.

## A shifting departure point

Belgium has increasingly become a logistics hub for smuggling networks, who store boats and engines there before moving them on to launch points along the French coast, a pattern authorities say has grown as enforcement has tightened along France's own shoreline. Roughly 17,281 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year, a drop of nearly 45 percent on the same period last year, even as smugglers have packed more people onto individual boats, including one vessel found carrying 230 passengers. Joint operations between the two countries have led to 50 smuggling related arrests this year, following a case last year in which Turkish boat supplier Adem Savas was sentenced to 11 years in prison and fined 400,000 euros.

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Originally published by Belgium Crown. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://belgiumcrown.com/article/belgium-and-the-uk-strike-a-deal-to-share-intelligence-on-channel-smuggling-gangs.