The Home Office will use hidden automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras across Europe in a bid to stop gangs smuggling people across the Channel in small boats.
Ministers plan to use static and mobile cameras on top of marked and unmarked police cars across routes commonly used for people smuggling.
An £80,000 trial over six months will monitor the movements of vehicles suspected of being used to facilitate Channel crossings, according to a Government tender document for suppliers.
A Home Office source told The Times newspaper the operation was possible because of agreements reached between European allies and the UK to boost the capability of the government’s new Border Security Command.
“None of this would be possible without the high-level agreements we have been able to reach with our European counterparts, and the operational relationships that the National Crime Agency and Border Security Command are building with other agencies,” said the source.
“They are happy to work with us, and allow us to install equipment and conduct surveillance on their soil, because we are treating this as a shared threat to our collective security, and an opportunity to bring down the crime gangs that run these networks across Europe.”
The information gathered by the cameras analysed by artificial intelligence software to track down frequent routes used by people smugglers.
Ministers also hope it can also help them identify hubs where criminal gangs store equipment for people smuggling, including engines and dinghies.
Labour Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to “smash the gangs” as a response to the numbers of small boats crossing the Channel after ditching the previous Government’s controversial Rwanda plan.
So far this year 27,225 migrants have crossed the Channel in 514 boats.
According to the tender document, the cameras will need to be equipped with infrared capability, so that they can work at night, and also need to be flexible so that they can be easily moved.
The cameras would also need to be discreet and be able to give detailed branding and model information about the cars or lorries recorded as being involved in people smuggling.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The ANPR is a great example of the Home Office using new tactics in our work to disrupt organised crime groups. Since the new government came in we have been working with European partners to smash the gangs.
“We know that these criminal gangs change their tactics in an attempt to evade our response, and that’s why investments into new technology like this are so vital.
“It will allow us to coordinate and share intelligence with our European partners to build an even better picture of what is happening where, so we can respond dynamically and effectively and prevent more lives from being lost.”
