London: The British Foreign Office announced Wednesday it has imposed sanctions on 25 individuals of various nationalities and a Chinese company for their involvement in human trafficking and encouraging irregular migration to the United Kingdom. The office mentioned in a statement that the travel bans and asset freezes targeted prominent figures of various European and Arab nationalities working within dangerous human trafficking gangs across the Balkans, North Africa, and some European countries.
According to Kuwait News Agency, these individuals are divided into groups, with some working to lure illegal migrants, others transferring and sending money, while other individuals transport migrants, whether via cargo trucks from France and Belgium or in fishing boats to cross the English Channel. The ministry noted that the Chinese company Weihai Yamar was added to the sanctions package due to its deliberate online advertisements promoting the use of its inflatable boats to smuggle illegal migrants.
The statement quoted British Foreign Secretary David Lammy as saying that the new sanctions package marks a historic moment in the government's work in combating organized migration crimes and reducing irregular migration to the United Kingdom. The announcement of this list came on the first day of the new British sanctions system, considered a unique system that will disrupt the flow of gangs' funds and gradually paralyze their activities.