Germany conducts first raids under new anti-smuggling law, seizes thousands of boat parts

German police carried out their inaugural raids using a December law that criminalises aiding migrant smuggling to the UK, confiscating over 9,000 life jackets, dozens of dinghies and related equipment.

In a joint effort with the UK, France and German law-enforcement agencies, police in North Rhine-Westphalia raided a secret warehouse and seized more than 9,000 orange life jackets, dozens of roughly 9-metre inflatable dinghies and 360 pumps. The equipment, now stored in a concealed facility, could have moved over 2,000 migrants across the English Channel, according to one outlet Crime Agency. Germany's Interior Ministry said the raids marked the first application of a law passed in December that makes it a criminal offence to facilitate migrant smuggling to the United Kingdom, extending beyond previous EU-only provisions.

The seized boats were deflated, boxed and wrapped in plastic, many bearing Chinese tags, reflecting the supply chain that often runs from China through Turkey into Europe. British investigators link Kurdish criminal networks to the western German hub, which benefits from proximity to French launch sites. Legal experts warn the new provision remains largely untested, but it now obliges German police to investigate suspicious activity. Overall Channel crossings have fallen this year, a trend the UK Home Office attributes partly to disrupted boat supplies.