The National Crime Agency (NCA) arrested three people on Monday as part of a coordinated operation with French police, who arrested another 16 people in and around Paris in simultaneous raids. Investigators said migrants were charged up to €50,000 for the full journey from Vietnam to Britain. The network is accused of transporting over 1,000 migrants into the UK, with Europol estimating the operation generated €50 million in turnover.
In a separate case, a group of racing identities has been charged over an alleged billion-dollar cocaine smuggling conspiracy, police said. Investigators allege the plan involved large international vessels acting as 'mother ships' and smaller local boats as 'daughter vessels'. Police allege the syndicate attempted to retrieve shipments ranging from 600 kg to 3.5 tonnes of cocaine, with total value exceeding $1 billion. Authorities said none of the attempts were successful and no drugs were ultimately imported.
A UK-wide county lines crackdown resulted in 2,180 arrests, police said. Nearly 800 children were discovered who needed to be safeguarded. Police seized 121 firearms across the UK, closed 335 county lines, and recovered 10,500 wraps of class A drugs, 15,000 cannabis plants and £1.5m in cash. The National County Lines Coordination Centre reported that the number of county lines each year across the UK has risen from 4,503 in 2020/21 to 6,544 in 2024/25.
In Scotland, police made 43 arrests as part of a month-long crackdown on county lines gangs, with drugs worth £900,000 seized. Officers safeguarded 38 vulnerable people who were being exploited by England-based crime groups.
Police arrested a gang that smuggled up to 20 Albanians into the UK, according to police.
An all-female gang was part of a cocaine trafficking operation that delivered more than 170 kilos of high-purity cocaine worth £13.6 million, according to the Organised Crime Partnership. The gang used encrypted messaging, secret passwords and last-minute drop-off points. Five members of the conspiracy were sentenced to a combined total of 30 years and five months, the court said.
Hasan Ferhat Baybasin has been arrested on suspicion of masterminding a £40 million international cigarette smuggling network, police said. Officers seized over 40 tonnes of illegal cigarettes worth around £40m along with assets worth over £2 million.
Five Danish men were arrested in Norway for attempting to retrieve 50 kg of cocaine hidden in a banana container, according to Kripos. The cocaine had a street value in Norway of up to 50 million Norwegian kroner, police said.
Operation Lockstream saw police engage with more than 660 people travelling in and out of the country using airports, roads, and ferry terminals across three days of action which began on Tuesday, February 24, according to Police Scotland. At Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen airports, 78 flights were met. Over the course of the operation, £7,000 worth of cash was seized, and four people were arrested in connection with drugs, road traffic and immigration offences. A key aim of Operation Lockstream was to safeguard vulnerable people at risk of exploitation. Police Scotland officers worked closely with partners from NPCC, Border Force, Home Office Immigration, HMRC, and Scottish SPCA.
Cannabis with an estimated street value of £7.1 million has been discovered at a derelict former school in Wick, according to Police Scotland. The discovery was made on Thursday, 29 January 2026, following a Police Scotland–led investigation supported by the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. A sophisticated cannabis cultivation was discovered, including more than 5,900 cannabis plants and dried cannabis, with the dried cannabis alone estimated to have a street value of £456,000. Seven individuals have been arrested and charged in connection with the matter. Three individuals – two men aged 44 and 27 and a 17-year-old male youth – appeared at Wick Sheriff Court on Friday, 30 January 2026. A further four men, aged 46, 35, 23 and 23, appeared at the same court on Tuesday, 3 February 2026. The CNC provided specialist support to the operation, including the deployment of trained officers and a general purpose police dog from its Dounreay Operational Policing Unit.
Nationally, police seized 961 knives in one year from county lines gangs, according to the Home Office. The Home Office also reported that 2,740 county lines were closed and 1,657 gang leaders charged. The Home Office said a new £34 million drive to fight the trade aims to halve knife crime within a decade.