Reports alleging that Iran may be exploiting the small boats route into Britain have prompted fresh warnings from security experts, with a former National Crime Agency chief arguing the crossings should “scare the life out of any reasonable person”.
The claims emerged after reports suggested Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), recently proscribed in Britain, could be using Channel crossings to move covert operatives into the UK.
The Express reported last week that people smugglers said Tehran was helping facilitate crossings from Calais in exchange for a future “favour” once migrants had reached Britain.
An Iranian official was also quoted as saying that “revolutionary” operatives linked to the IRGC’s Unit 700 — the logistics arm of the Quds Force, responsible for overseas operations — had been stationed in London.
The renewed focus on the potential security risks comes after three Iranian men who entered Britain illegally were charged last year with offences relating to alleged spying for Iran.
Former National Crime Agency deputy director Roy McComb said the reports reinforced long-standing concerns about illegal migration routes.
McComb, who served as the agency’s deputy director between 2014 and 2019 after leading organised crime operations for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, described the Channel crossings as a significant national security threat.
He argued that what he called “very liberal attitudes” had resulted in authorities viewing small boat arrivals as primarily a humanitarian issue rather than a security challenge.
“The small boats threat is there for everybody to see – they’re filled with young, military age men,” Mr McComb said.
“This should scare the life out of any reasonable person. It’s being treated by the authorities as a humanitarian crisis and it’s not.
“These people are being smuggled in and then they are effectively being facilitated by the very liberal attitudes we have to wander around the countryside.
“Even if they’re stopped they can say ‘I’m an asylum seeker’ and be entitled to protection.”
Speaking with the Daily Mail, McComb said it made sense that Iran would seek to infiltrate operatives through illegal routes and “seek to use them later”.
“The NCA and security services have been very clear that we have threat convergence, with organised crime groups delivering young, military age personnel from countries that are routinely hostile to the UK,” he said.
“The IRGC Unit 700 linkage shows that these people aren’t just posing as a casual threat.”
George Simm, who served as Regimental Sergeant Major of 22 SAS from 1992 to 1994, also warned about the potential threat posed by Tehran-backed activity in Britain.
“We don’t have to guess about whether the IRGC intend to mount attacks in the UK, their officials have just told us,” he said.
Simm argued that individuals linked to the organisation were “in the foothills” of preparations and could eventually mount attacks posing “a massive threat to life”.
He described a hypothetical scenario involving “three major incidents – imagine 7/7-style attacks, but with firearms, across three major cities, involving large groups of armed terrorists supported by an accompanying rent-a-mob”.
Simm said such a scenario could require an SAS response and urged ministers to “enhance the UK’s already effective intelligence-gathering capabilities with robust contingency planning and deterrence operations where necessary”.
An analyst specialising in Iranian external operations, who spoke on condition of anonymity, offered a more cautious assessment.
The analyst is reported to have said it was “highly likely” Iranian intelligence services had identified small boat crossings as “a vulnerability worth exploiting”.
However, the analyst added that “nothing we have seen in the way they operate, recruit and handle agents suggests that, even if infiltrations have been successful, those placed in the UK have proved effective or demonstrated long-term potential”.
The debate comes as almost 900 migrants have crossed the Channel from France since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister last Monday, including one “mega dinghy” carrying 165 people on Thursday.
Speaking during a visit to Derby, Burnham acknowledged there was “more to do” but defended the Government’s approach.
“The Home Secretary [Shabana Mahmood] has brought forward a very rigorous plan in relation to this, and let’s remember, the numbers can fluctuate but overall boat crossings are down, down quite significantly year on year. So that does suggest that the plan is working,” he said.
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