Fifth arrest in Loughborough over speedboat migrant smuggling

A fifth man has been arrested over a foiled attempt to smuggle migrants into the UK.

Twelve migrants and two British men were previously detained on 30 October when Belgian police stopped a speedboat leaving the coast of Flanders.

An Albanian man, 44, living in Leicester, was arrested in Loughborough on suspicion of people smuggling offences.

A boat was also seized in Brightlingsea, Essex.

Four men, aged 44, 46, 48 and 51, have been charged with smuggling offences and are due to appear at Nottingham Crown Court on 29 March.

The arrests were made as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into a group suspected of organising a series of people smuggling runs to the UK from Europe, including a number of crossing events last year.

Investigators claim they used a boat to travel to Belgium to collect migrants, landing at Margate in Kent.

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