Police launch new boat to deter people smugglers

A new police boat is being deployed in Devon and Cornwall because of an anticipated surge in illegal immigration.

The Home Office has funded the vessel as it is expected people smugglers will target the region as enforcement in the Channel intensifies.

The number of migrant arrivals on small boats has topped 34,000 in 2025 so far, marking a record for this point in the year since data on Channel crossings was first reported in 2018.

At the launch of the boat in Plymouth, James Vaughan, chief constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, said: “There’s a clear message here to criminals to say we’re not a soft underbelly here in Plymouth and the other ports and harbours around our beautiful coastline.

“If you think you can bring your criminality here, think again, because if you do we’re likely to catch you, and then we’ll put you into the criminal justice system.

“We think it’s going to be a really helpful, visible, pretty phenomenal deterrent.”

The boat, named Neptune, is equipped with state-of-the-art marine electronics, including a long-range infrared camera and an underwater drone, that can search in more tricky conditions.

Neptune, which can travel at up to 40 knots, will be used to enhance the police response to maritime threats including drugs and people smuggling, while also boosting coastal safety.

It will act as a deterrent to organised crime groups and allow officers to intercept and board vessels when dealing with high-level organised crime threats.

Devon and Cornwall Police have had fewer than 10 cases of organised immigration crime in the last two years.

But Mr Vaughan said it was the “anticipation and worry” of the force that organised crime groups would begin to target Devon and Cornwall more often.

He said: “That is what some of the intelligence suggests – that people smugglers and drug smugglers are coming further down the south coast as activity intensifies around the Channel coasts.

“It has been pushed down into Sussex and Dorset and Devon and Cornwall.

“It’s important, which is why the Home Office has funded vessels, both here and in other south coast police forces, to help us work together.”

The boat was paid for using £350,000 of Government funding as part of the Home Office’s programme to tackle organised crime.

It is part of Sir Keir Starmer’s efforts to “smash the gangs” that smuggle migrants to the UK, and deter people from making the journey.