National Crime Agency officers break down a door and swarm a home in dramatic footage showing the moments before suspected people-smuggling arrests.

Three alleged members of an asylum seeker smuggling group – believed to charge thousands for passage into the UK – were apprehended following an operation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The NCA released the footage of the arrests, which showed officers raiding a residential property, and suspects then being driven away.

Two men – the suspected group ringleaders – are a 34-year-old from Grays, Essex, and a 34-year-old man from Dagenham, east London.

They were stopped and arrested on Monday on suspicion of assisting unlawful immigration.

NCA investigators believe the group has facilitated the illegal entry of numerous migrants, charging between £2,500 and £7,500 each time.

This included an occasion last August where a small boat with 46 people on board left from the French coast and was stopped in British waters.

Those on board were predominantly Albanian nationals, and included young children.

One of those attempting to make the crossing was a convicted rapist who had previously been deported from the UK and has now been kicked out again.

Passengers were removed from the boat and taken to a holding centre by Border Force officers.

The NCA, working closely with Border Force’s Small Boats Operational Command, investigated the incident.

Three further events believed to be linked to the group involving an HGV were identified by NCA officers in October and November 2022.

The lorry is believed to have travelled from Coquelles, France, three times, stopping at service stations in Cobham and Thurrock to drop off asylum seekers.

The third arrested suspect was an HGV driver, a 55-year-old man from Belgium whose lorry was stopped in Folkestone this week.

Meanwhile, two other men were arrested on suspicion of unlawful entry to the UK at an address in north London.

Chris Farrimond, director of threat leadership at the NCA, said: “People smugglers do not care about the safety of those they transport, they seek to exploit them for profit.”

Small boat crossings continue with a rise in numbers over the last week as the weather has improved.

Government figures show there were crossings every single day from Monday, June 12 to Sunday, June 18.

A total of 2,156 people were detected in 43 small craft over those seven days.

Those picked up at sea by British authorities are usually brought to the Western Jet Foil at Dover where they are initially processed. It was here Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visited on June 5 to discuss the problem.

A record 45,756 asylum seekers crossed the Channel in 2022.