Law enforcement agencies join forced across region in crackdown on "foreign national offenders" – The Northern Echo (registration)

MODERN slavery, human trafficking and illegal immigration are among the key targets of the biggest operation of its kind launched in the region this morning.

Law enforcement agencies across the North-East are mounting a crackdown on foreign national offenders in an operation which will including raids on premises, joint patrols and other activities over the next fortnight.

Operation Kestrel involves the regions three police forces Durham, Cleveland and Northumbria working alongside Immigration Enforcement, Border Force, the North East Regional Special Operations Unit, the Department Work Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs.

It is aimed at developing a template to be used for future operations across the country, while at the same time building up intelligence on the scale of the problem.

Speaking ahead of the operation, Northumbria Assistant Chief Constable Helen McMillan said: It is a targeted operation which is looking at the harm caused by foreign national offenders across the region.

Normally we do all cooperate and go about our business when we come across foreign national offenders.

But this is a much more co-ordinated approach towards foreign criminality and its victims. We hoping to develop a model fully integrated collaborative working.

She added: Some of the activity well target is modern day slavery and human trafficking offences, which would include labour exploitation and the safeguarding of victims.

Its fair to say that some foreign nationals who are here legally will be victims of exploitation sometimes by foreign national offenders and sometimes by UK nationals, who are seeking to exploit a vulnerable community

The victims may well not be aware of the labour laws, the minimum wage and health and safety.

Sometimes they will be targeted by unscrupulous employers or landlords who will seek to take advantage of them. Well be taking action against those people too.

ACC McMillan said: We are not carrying out this operation because we have had a rise on foreign national offenders or because we have a particular issue in the North-East - because we dont.

This is about trying to be much more efficient and effective at what we do in a much more multi-agency collaborative way.

Immigration Enforcement director Eddy Montgomery said: Illegal immigration cuts across the work of a number of Government agencies. It impacts not just on the community but economy as well.

This will enable us to us to develop a wider intelligence picture.

He added: Our key priorities will be illegal working, rogue landlords, modern slavery and identifiying those who have no right to be in the UK, ranging from from low-level offenders to serious criminality.

Illegal working encourages illegal migration, undercuts legitimate businesses, by illegal cost cutting activity and is often associated with exploitative behaviour like tax evasion and harmful working conditions.

He said every landlord had a legal responsibility to rent only to people who had a right to be in the UK.

ACC McMillan said Operation Kestrel was driven by the Chief Constable Steve Ashman who was the National Police Chiefs Councils lead in international criminality.

She said: He is very keen to drive the agenda and try and co-ordinate increased capacity and capability across the the services across the UK.

One of the things he wanted to do as that was to try and develop a template that can be used across the county by forces and services to co-ordinate better. It makes sense for us to do it here.

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Law enforcement agencies join forced across region in crackdown on "foreign national offenders" - The Northern Echo (registration)