The scale of Channel crossings is “significant” amid the “growing” threat of people-trafficking, a police chief has warned after the biggest operation of its kind worldwide saw thousands of arrests.

The UK was among 116 countries and territories that took part in Interpol’s week-long Operation Liberterra II, which resulted in 2,517 arrests across the globe.

Some 3,222 potential victims of human trafficking were rescued and 17,793 illegal migrants were also identified in raids conducted in late September and early October.

The results of the operation came after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer promised the government would “treat people smugglers like terrorists” as he announced an extra £75m for his border security command during a speech at the Interpol general meeting in Glasgow.

Richard Chambers, the law enforcement agency’s director of organized and emerging crime, told the AP news agency that “everyone” is concerned about the large number of migrants crossing the Channel to Britain, describing the more than 31,000 who have made the journey to now at this moment. the year as “significant”.

Asked how long it would take for such enforcement activity to lead to fewer crossings, he said: “That’s a very difficult question to answer.”

Interpol “will absolutely play our part in making that difference. But it’s not just up to us.

“It won’t happen overnight, but it will continue to be a massive coordinated effort from many partners.”

Operation Liberterra II “told us that this type of crime is very diverse. Develop. It develops rapidly. It’s a growing problem.”

The problem is “more than any country,” he said, as he recounted how the operation highlighted “the threat human trafficking poses to the world.”

Speaking from the AGM on Wednesday, he said: “We heard from the UK Prime Minister earlier this week about how important this issue is. So the UK has a very important role to play in this endeavour.”

Sir Keir “has made a very clear statement about the priority his government places on this issue and that comes with our full support to help law enforcement and jurisdictions globally pursue more operations,” he added he.

During the operation, Tunisian authorities intercepted 27 people, including 21 children, who were trying to travel to the UK “under the guise of a language study trip”, Interpol said.

This led to the arrest of three suspects after the National Crime Agency (NCA) found them living in the UK. They now face smuggling charges.

In total, nine people were arrested in the UK in the operation as the NCA searched for suspects wanted in Belgium, Germany, France and Romania for people smuggling, human trafficking and modern slavery offences.

Raids took place in Lancashire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and Kent, the NCA said.

This included a 32-year-old Syrian man, arrested in Nottingham, who was wanted by Romanian authorities for “illegal transport of migrants from Bulgaria to Romania, to continue their journey to the Netherlands”.

Another suspect was detained by police in Northern Ireland.

Extradition proceedings are now underway for all nine suspects.

Rick Jones, from the NCA, said the operation was “a prime example of our commitment to work closely and effectively with international partners to tackle people smuggling and people-trafficking”.

One of the goals of Operation Liberterra II was to “better understand the threat posed globally. And the results demonstrate the significance of what is undoubtedly a growing threat,” Mr Chambers said, adding that he was “overwhelmed” by the scale of the problem, given the number of potential victims that had been identified, as well as the number of illegal migrants and arrests made.

Rising tensions around the world “are fueling a lot of this activity because the reality is that people are looking for a safer place of safety,” he said, adding: “Organized criminal groups are exploiting that. They exploit those vulnerabilities and don’t care about the consequences.”

More operations of this magnitude will follow as Interpol hears “more and more” about the “threat posed by people-trafficking” in its 196 member countries, Mr Chambers said.

The operation revealed dozens of cases where victims of trafficking were “deceived and coerced into committing fraud”, for example through online scams, “marking a clear departure from traditional patterns of trafficking, where human exploitation is the sole criminal objective”. Interpol said.

In many of these cases, victims have been “lured in with false promises of employment and kept there through intimidation and abuse.”