Three charged in Great Yarmouth people smuggling probe

The vessel containing suspected illegal immigrants was intercepted by officials off Great Yarmouth

Three men have been charged with people smuggling offences after more than 60 suspected illegal migrants were found on a fishing boat off East Anglia.

The boat was stopped in waters off Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, on Tuesday.

Aleksandrs Gulpe, 43, from Latvia, Igor Kosyi, 56, and Volodymyr Mykhailov, 48, both from Ukraine, were remanded in custody by Colchester magistrates.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the boat had sailed from Belgium and was accompanied into Harwich harbour.

The three men are charged with facilitating the commission of a breach of UK immigration law by a non-EU person, according to the NCA.

It said 69 other people, all Albanian nationals, were arrested on suspicion of offences under the Immigration Act and were being dealt with by immigration enforcement officers.

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