Three people have been arrested after a foiled attempt by a suspected criminal gang to smuggle 12 Albanians into the UK across the Channel.

A high-powered rigid hulled inflatable boat was stopped as it arrived on the coast near Nieuwpoort in Belgium, at 4.30am yesterday (October 30).

Belgian officers arrested two men, aged 34 and 44 from Basingstoke, on suspicion of people smuggling offences. The 12 Albanian nationals on board were also detained.

A third man, aged 46, was arrested by the National Crime Agency (NCA) in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, on the same day, on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration.

He remains in custody and is being questioned.

NCA branch commander Colin Williams said the joint operation with Belgium officials disrupted a suspected organised crime group involved in bringing people to the UK illegally.

“Attempts to reach the UK by small boat are extremely dangerous and people smugglers do not care about the safety of their passengers," he said.

“Working closely with partners including Belgian Federal Police, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement, these arrests show that the NCA will work across international borders to target people smuggling gangs.”

Belgian Public Prosecutor Frank Demeester added: "The fight against organised human smuggling is an absolute priority for the Public Prosecutor's Office of West-Flanders.

“That is why the Belgian Federal Police have deployed significant resources to thwart these acts of human smuggling.

"We want to avoid at all costs, that people are put in danger on the North Sea.

"By now it is common knowledge that international cooperation with British colleagues from the NCA and with our European partners is very good within this phenomenon.”

The NCA alone has more than 60 live investigations into networks or individuals in the top tier of organised immigration crime or human trafficking.

Much of this criminality sits outside of the UK, and the NCA has built up our intelligence sharing effort with law enforcement partners in Belgium, France and beyond.