The UK government launched its pioneering Global Irregular Migration Sanctions Regime on Wednesday, targeting 25 key figures and entities in a crackdown on people-smuggling networks. The sanctions hit gang leaders, intermediaries, and suppliers, including a Chinese company, Weihai Yamar Outdoors Product Co, advertising “refugee boats,” and Hawala bankers in the Middle East facilitating illicit payments.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy declared, “We’re taking the fight to people smugglers globally, making them pay for their actions.” The measures, a world first, freeze UK assets, impose travel bans, and cut off financial access for those involved, aiming to disrupt the flow of money and materials fueling these criminal operations.

Among the sanctioned are Albanian Bledar Lala, leading a smuggling ring from Belgium, and Alen Basil, a former Serbian police translator turned smuggler, known for terrorizing refugees. The Tetwani gang, led by Mohammed Tetwani, dubbed the “King of Horgos,” faces sanctions for violent abuses in Serbia’s migrant camps. National Crime Agency Director Graeme Biggar emphasized the sanctions’ role in undermining these networks, complementing ongoing enforcement efforts to secure UK borders.

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