Keir Starmer to deploy drones as part of £75 million funding package to help UK officials detain migrant smugglers

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Party will be introducing a fresh £75 million funding package geared towards tackling the influx of illegal migrants Britain receives through the English Channel via human smugglers. 

The package, which Starmer announced at Interpol’s annual general assembly in Glasgow on Monday, will cover the deployment of maritime drones over the Channel that Britain's new Border Security Command (BSC) can use to monitor smuggling activity in real-time, per The Times. 

Starmer said that it was his "personal mission to smash the people-smuggling gangs," adding, "we are going to treat people smugglers like terrorists - we are taking our approach to counter terrorism, which we know works, and applying it to the gangs. We have got to combine resources, share intelligence and tactics, and tackle the problem upstream, working together to shut down the smuggling routes."

He had stated that the additional £75 million of funding for the Border Security Command would end "the fragmentation between policing, Border Force and our intelligence agencies."

The total £150 million BSC funding will cover an additional 300 staff, 100 specialist investigators and intelligence officers for the National Crime Agency, new advanced data technology for the NCA, a new specialist intelligence unit, and a boost to the Crown Prosecution Service's ability to bring charges quickly in international cases, all with the focus being on cracking down on migrant smuggling.

Home Office sources have disclosed that new specialist operational equipment will also be covered in the additional funding, including advanced maritime drones, covert audio and video equipment, and automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras.

Former immigration chief Kevin Saunders is doubtful, however, that these additional efforts to deter illegal migrants will be "feasible."

He stated to the BBC that the UK would only be able to prosecute and jail people smugglers within the country "and the majority of people smugglers are actually based in the Middle East and Turkey."

Starmer had scrapped his predecessor, Conservative PM Rishi Sunak's Rwanda plan which was falling apart as the current PM took office in July. 

Over 5,400 illegal migrants crossed the Channel in small dinghies in October, which is reportedly the highest monthly figure in 2 years. This year, over 27,500 have undergone the dangerous and often fatal crossing.