When you think of illegal migration to Britain, images of small boats might come to mind rather than a ferry between Dublin and Holyhead.
But individuals and gangs are also trying to get people into the UK illegally using more common routes, officials say, prompting a clampdown in places such as Anglesey, home to the second busiest passenger ferry port after Dover.
Three Romanians with previous immigration offences were returned after trying to enter through Holyhead Port last week.
A three-day operation targeting the UK’s common travel area – through which British and Irish citizens can pass freely – led to 51 arrests of suspected immigration offenders and smugglers, said the Home Office.
However, at the Welsh port there have been more than 220 immigration cases so far this year, of which 177 people were refused entry and removed, such as the three Romanians who were forced to leave their car behind.
Officials have said people try and evade checks via the CTA and, when they find themselves turned back at places such as Heathrow and Gatwick airports, some can re-attempt entry elsewhere, such as via Dublin.
As part of the recent clampdown, a Lithuanian man who arrived at Belfast International airport was charged for entering the UK in breach of a deportation order and detained for removal after previously being convicted for murder in Lithuania.
Authorities from the Garda National Immigration Bureau in Ireland conducted a search of a house in County Kildare and seized evidence suspected to be linked to organised immigration crime. That investigation continues, said the Home Office.
A UK Border Force sniffer dog searched a lorry at Holyhead Port and found €13,000 (£11,340) of suspected criminal cash in a “purpose-built concealment”.
Officers also seized more than £33,000 of non-duty paid tobacco and cigarettes at the port.
The UK government has drafted new legal powers aimed at improving border security and the asylum and immigration system.
It has been under intense pressure over illegal migration, with 36,000 people having crossed the English Channel in small boats since the start of 2025.
Irregular arrivals into the UK are up 27% on the previous year, and the vast majority of these are via small boat.
However this is just a small percentage of the UK’s overall immigration figure.
Paul Harvey, a chief immigration officer, said combined operations involving police, Border Force officials and immigration officers, were having an effect on organised immigration crime “seeking to exploit” the CTA between England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
He said as well as “business as usual activities” where officers checked vehicles and people entering the port at Holyhead, they were also involved in intelligence-led operations with counterparts elsewhere, including Ireland and Albania, targeting people smugglers.
“We’ve got an intelligence cell in Belfast, and they’ll look at things like shipping manifests, and they’ll look at routes of vehicles and what might be suspicious, and they’ll tell us that, and we’ll look at those vehicles,” he said.
“There’s absolutely an organised crime element that seeks to exploit the common travel areas that use Holyhead. We know that.
“But there are also individual people who seek to exploit that.
“And there’s also other cases, so people who seek to use this as a route to bring people in, and commodities, like drugs, alcohol, tobacco. Unfortunately, people are also commodities.”
