Secret Banking Networks Fueling Migrant Smuggling to Britain

[Social Media]

 

People smugglers are making “hundreds of millions” of pounds from illegal Channel crossings, using a secretive underground banking system to move money undetected. The National Crime Agency (NCA) is now targeting the informal Hawala banking network, which is being exploited by criminal gangs because it allows the transfer of funds without any physical cash crossing borders.  

 

 

Hawala, a centuries-old financial system originating in South Asia, enables migrants to travel across Europe without carrying money. Instead, payments are arranged between operators, or hawaladars, in different countries. This has made it an ideal method for people smugglers to facilitate illegal migration while avoiding detection. The NCA has visited more than 40 hawaladars in the UK to warn them that they are endangering lives and could face prosecution under money laundering laws, which carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.  

 

 

According to the NCA, the use of the Hawala system to transfer money for Channel crossings has surged, with “hundreds of millions” of pounds now moving through these networks each year. A record 6,632 migrants have reached the UK so far this year, up from 4,600 at the same point in 2024.

 

 

This surge has prompted a renewed crackdown on the illicit financing of smuggling operations, which will be a key focus at an international summit in London this week. Ministers, officials, and law enforcement agencies from more than 40 countries will convene to discuss ways to combat organised immigration crime.  

 

 

Delegates from China, Turkey, and key source countries in Asia and Africa will attend, reflecting the global nature of the smuggling networks. China is a major supplier of the engines used in the small boats crossing the Channel, while Turkey is home to back-street factories producing the dinghies used in these journeys.  

 

The NCA is working alongside HM Revenue and Customs to dismantle the financial infrastructure supporting people smuggling. Under the Hawala system, a migrant arranges payment with a hawaladar in their home country for an illegal Channel crossing. The money is only released by another hawaladar in the UK upon their arrival.

 

One of the most significant investigations led to the conviction of Asghar Gheshalghian, an Iranian hawaladar who operated a carpet business in Wood Green, north London, as a front for his money transfers. Gheshalghian, 48, was a trusted middleman, collecting payments from migrants or their families and releasing funds to smuggling gangs upon successful arrival in the UK. He also took a commission on each transaction. Phone evidence linked him to at least eight Iranian migrants who reached the UK by boat or lorry and later claimed asylum. He was sentenced to eight years in prison.  

Another key figure, Hewa Rahimpur, an Iranian based in east London, was convicted in Belgium and sentenced to 11 years in prison for his role as a Hawala banker for people-trafficking gangs. He helped smuggle 10,000 migrants across the English Channel, earning up to £260,000 per trip.  

 

In a further attempt to combat smuggling networks, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has launched a task force inspired by Italy’s crackdown on mafia finances. UK and Italian law enforcement agencies, along with forensic accountants and financial crime experts, are working together to freeze criminal bank accounts, conduct joint operations, and prosecute people-smuggling gangs. This initiative is being combined with European efforts to disrupt the smuggling supply chain, which includes the transport of Chinese-made engines to Germany before they are moved to northern France for use in Channel crossings.  

 

The NCA estimates that these crackdowns have significantly increased the cost of smuggling boats. A dinghy that once cost smugglers only a few thousand pounds is now priced at £14,000. In response, smugglers have turned to larger but lower-quality boats, which are now carrying an average of more than 50 migrants per vessel. This has led to greater risks and an increase in migrant deaths at sea.  

 

Last year was the deadliest on record for Channel crossings, with at least 69 reported fatalities. Martin Hewitt, the Government’s border security commander, is expected to tell the summit that only greater collaboration between European and international governments can bring an end to the deadly trade.

 

Based on a report by The Telegraph  2025-04-01

 

 

[JonnyF]

Don't worry, our fearless leader Keir Rodney Starmer is going to "smash the gangs". 

 

He said so, therefore it must be true.

 

He never goes back on his word. 😄

[wombat]

Knights Templar banking in reverse?

[Snackbar]

All ends with the withdrawal from ECHR

 

Democracy in action 

[Pouatchee]

1 hour ago, Social Media said:

The NCA has visited more than 40 hawaladars in the UK to warn them that they are endangering lives and could face prosecution under money laundering laws, which carry a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.  

 

stop yapping and get on with it then... oi... lip service!

[BadBouy]

Wonder if that is USAID money?

[Chomper Higgot]

Not BitCoin then.

[jcmj]

How much are they charging these people?

[Thingamabob]

I cannot see this trade in people ever being stopped unless extreme action is taken against the traffickers. those agreeing to be trafficked, and those benefitting from the cheap labour which ensues. And, by extreme, I mean live bullets should be fired if necessary to eliminate the gangs running these businesses.

[impulse]

4 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

I cannot see this trade in people ever being stopped unless extreme action is taken against the traffickers. those agreeing to be trafficked, and those benefitting from the cheap labour which ensues.

 

Eezy peezy.  If you enter the country illegally, you will never be allowed to gain permanent status, much less citizenship.  You will not be allowed to work or drive or open a bank account, and you will not be allowed to sponge off the taxpayer.  Ever.  Maybe once, we'll let you to self deport and then come back legally (and then we'll welcome you), but if you try it twice, it's a lifetime ban.

 

But that's mean and racist...

 

[placeholder]

"People smugglers are making “hundreds of millions” of pounds from illegal Channel crossings, using a secretive underground banking system to move money undetected. The National Crime Agency (NCA) is now targeting the informal Hawala banking network, which is being exploited by criminal gangs because it allows the transfer of funds without any physical cash crossing borders.  

Hawala, a centuries-old financial system originating in South Asia, enables migrants to travel across Europe without carrying money. Instead, payments are arranged between operators, or hawaladars, in different countries"

 

On the one hand it's "a secretive, underground banking system used to move money undetected." On the other it's "a centuries-old financial system originating in South Asia, enables migrants to travel across Europe without carrying money."

[Caldera]

Hawala isn't secret at all.

[placeholder]

9 minutes ago, Caldera said:

Hawala isn't secret at all.

Years ago I read about it in the Wall Street Journal. It's actually a brilliant system. But like any monetary transfer system, it can be abused. But I don't think it approaches anything like the abuse via crypto.

[Sir Dude]

The simple answer to this moronic problem is to take away the pull-factors/benefits and do an Australia style system... they fixed it plus give them nothing.

Who cares what the whinging idiots think? Do what is right for the UK taxpayer and block all the criminals and oxygen thieves from staying... withdraw from the ECHR too, arrest the criminal asylum lawyers that are gaming the system and  facilitating criminality, and ta-da, everything fixed. The fail of the left is such a facepalm (Tory and Labour as they are the same now), but they want the UK destroyed.

[coolcarer]

39 minutes ago, Caldera said:

Hawala isn't secret at all.

That’s your sole comment on the OP? The system is being exploited through secretive transactions via a network that makes it far easier to access than having to register a crypto account. Ideal for those in third world countries who would find that impossible to do Very difficult to trace. 

[BangkokReady]

32 minutes ago, Sir Dude said:

Who cares what the whinging idiots think?

 

They the ones in control!

[Seppius]

Until the UK has a PM with some balls to tell France to stop them at their border, and not pass them on to the UK, it will go on

[placeholder]

1 hour ago, Seppius said:

Until the UK has a PM with some balls to tell France to stop them at their border, and not pass them on to the UK, it will go on

And if the French aren't impressed by that PM's balls? The UK will withdraw from the EU?