The suspected 'kingpin' of a Channel people smuggling gang was held during a police swoop in London earlier today.
Detectives say Iranian-born Hewa Rahimpur, 29, was arrested during a planned operation in east London and is due to appear in court tomorrow.
Rahimpur is suspected of being a 'major player' in an organised crime group supplying 'significant numbers' of small boats to people smugglers.
He is wanted by the authorities in Belgium where he is suspected of being a leading figure in a network said by prosecutors to be engaged in 'systematic human smuggling' offences using small boats.
Iranian-born Hewa Rahimpur, 29, was arrested during a planned operation in east London and is due to appear in court tomorrow
Belgian authorities suspect Rahimpur has links to a major organised crime group involved in people trafficking
Rahimpur is accused of sourcing the boats in Turkey and having them delivered to locations in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands
Rahimpur, currently living in Ilford, east London, was detained in a National Crime Agency (NCA) operation at around 1pm this afternoon.
The joint NCA-Belgian investigation follows the seizure of a number of boats and outboard motors, found by Belgian police in the back of a car near the Belgian-French border last October.
Rahimpur is accused of sourcing the boats in Turkey and having them delivered to locations in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.
He would then direct other members of the gang to take them on to the northern French coast, from where migrants would be transported.
NCA officers worked alongside their Belgian colleagues to track Rahimpur down, locating him at his place of work in Romford Road, Manor Park, where he was arrested.
