"Ruthless" people smuggling gangs are working together to send asylum seekers across the Channel on "death trap" boats held together with duct tape.

The criminals are described as "adaptable" and "enduring" by those working to stop them.

They profit by facilitating the routes, paperwork and tools needed to help desperate and vulnerable people reach Kent's shores.

Whether this is by a small boat, or hidden in the back of a lorry, these gangs are driven by money, rather than a moral obligation to help those fleeing war zones or persecution.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) refers to this type of activity as OIC, standing for Organised Immigration Crime.

But it isn't limited to people putting asylum seekers on those small boats; there are many different strings to the operation.

This could be someone involved in transportation, finance, or accommodation for the migrants along the way.

Some of these gangs offer the whole service, while others provide a staged journey across Europe.

But however they operate, the government and various agencies - including the NCA, Border Force (BF) and Immigration Enforcement (IE) - are working together to put a stop to it.

The NCA, for example, is currently leading more than 60 investigations into OIC.

In 2021/22, the agency was involved in 300 arrests, both in the UK and overseas, for offences related to OIC.

And since the launch of Project Invigor, the UK’s OIC taskforce (led by the NCA but also including BF, IE, and the Crown Prosecution Service), it has been involved in more than 1,300 arrests, with convicted suspects sentenced to more than 900 years in prison.

But who are the people behind these gangs?

Martin Grace, head of the human trafficking threat leadership team at the NCA, says a lot of the work is done outside the UK.

He said: "In broad terms, what we can say about those involved in OIC is that, as a threat, it is enduring, those involved are flexible, they adapt, they're resourceful.

"A migrant's journey begins from the source country and they will come through various countries and routes to arrive in the UK.

"There will be key individuals that sit within those communities, within those areas, within those regions and within those countries that are able to facilitate that migrants journey to the UK.

"There is quite a wide variety of roles that we see.

"That could be someone involved in transportation, or someone involved in finance, someone able to consolidate migrants together and house them before moving them on."

Gangs will be united or connected by similarities, whether this is by the services they offer, community or cultural ties or even familial links.

Mr Grace explained that OIC does differ slightly to other threats, such as drug smuggling, where rival gangs can fight over territory.

With OIC, there appears to be more collaboration between the groups.

There are also, as mentioned already, different roles within the groups, such as providing documentation or organising transport. But OIC can also bleed into other threats, such as modern slavery, trafficking or money laundering.

It can also result in non illegal enterprises profiting.

For example, individuals involved in selling inflatable boats, or engines.

In their own rights, those commodities are not illegal, but profit could be made as part of the people smuggling operations.

Some people smugglers, once arrested, also claim to be victims themselves, who have been trafficked or exploited. These claims will be assessed as part of the justice process.

But has the number of gangs operating in this way increased, or is the number of people seeking refuge on the rise?

Mr Grace explains it is connected to "demand and supply".

He said: "What are the pull factors, what are the drivers there for migrants to enter the UK.

"Some of those will be fleeing oppressive regimes, war zones, escaping poverty, or simply looking for a better life, or may have family here.

"They could already speak English, which allows them to secure work and integrate into communities better than other countries along the route.

"They are desperate, vulnerable people and the facilitators that are behind it are quite ruthless.

"They don't care about the dangers they are putting migrants in.

"You've only got to look through the press to see the number of fatalities.

"The people engaged in this are not driven by any moral compass. They are ruthless and they will exploit that vulnerability.

"Where there is demand, they will offer those services to cater for that demand."

In November 2021, 27 people drowned after the small inflatable boat they were travelling in between France and the UK capsized. Children were among those who died.

In 2019, 39 people were found dead in the back of a lorry in Essex.

In 2000, 58 Chinese migrants were found dead in a lorry at Dover.

This year, more than 10,000 people have already crossed the Channel.

The method of arrival - in small boats - is a lot more visible, compared to hiding in the back of a van.

That's not to say that avenue has been abandoned by smugglers.

Last month, five gang members were jailed after 35 people were smuggled across the Channel inside what authorities describe as "coffin-like hides".

The victims of the smugglers, including children as young as two and a disabled person, were sealed inside the makeshift containers made from wardrobes and carried in vans via ports including Dover.

Two arrests took place in April too, after people were smuggled in horseboxes.

It shows smugglers are adapting.

As part of the small boat phenomenon for example, initially gangs would use commercially produced vessels to transport asylum seekers.

Now a lot of the boats seen are non-commercially produced, acquired from a factory.

And they are often modified, sometimes stuck together using duct tape.

Mr Grace said: "In transit, the floors of those vessels on occasion have collapse. They are death traps. We see crime groups adapting their ways but we see the dangers involved in that."

And what is being done to stop OIC?

The NCA has liaison officers working across borders, gathering and sharing intelligence and working with oversea counterparts to investigate together.

But the work by officers isn't just centered around bringing court results.

They also work on awareness campaigns for hauliers or those in the maritime industry, for example, to make themselves less vulnerable.

This includes being aware of and reporting suspicious activity.

The NCA also works with social media such as Facebook or TikTok to identify and remove posts promoting OIC, as well as those in the financial sector.

Harsher punishments are also now promised for people smugglers.

As part of the Home Office's new Nationality and Borders Act, a 'maximum life sentence for those who facilitate illegal entry' is being introduced.

A Home Office spokesman said: “Criminal gangs should be in no doubt of our determination to investigate, catch and pursue anyone putting lives at risk by attempting to bring people here unlawfully.

“The Nationality and Borders Act will fix the broken system by making it easier to prosecute people smugglers and introducing a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for those who facilitate illegal entry into our country.”

The same Act however could also penalise those seeking a safer life.

It pledges to 'make it a criminal offence to arrive in the UK illegally and increase the maximum sentence for illegally entering the UK', as well as 'speed up the removal of those with no right to be in the UK by streamlining the appeals and judicial process'.

The Act has been called 'inhumane' by some charities, including the Refugee Council, which states that "only just over a third of those arriving" are not deemed to be refugees.