Four men have been charged as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation targeting people smugglers.
Two Albanian brothers, Arben Cakici, 48, and Astrit Cakici, 37, from Barking and Newham, who were living illegally in the UK, have been charged with facilitating illegal entry into the UK and possessing a firearm.
Arben also faces a charge for carrying a knife.
The NCA made a series of arrests on Friday 16th October after witnessing what is believed to have been a handover of four migrants from a lorry into two cars, near a service station in Kent at around 8 am.
Two Romanian lorry drivers arrested at the scene, Ionut Colibei, 34, and Valerica Prutearu, 41, are also charged with facilitating illegal entry into the UK.
Colibei was also charged for having a knife.
The four men will appear at a virtual court today (Monday 19th October).
Searches in Newham on Friday also led to a further arrest of a 45-year-old man from Albania, wanted for unrelated offences.
The four Albanian migrants [aged between 20 to 35] who were arrested on Friday are now being dealt with by Immigration Enforcement.
A 30-year-old male arrested in Hastings as part of a separate NCA operation, who is suspected of supplying small boats to aid people smugglers in France, has been released under investigation.
Before you go...
WE NEED YOUR HELP.Here at Emergency Services News, we aim to tell you stories that the mainstream media are not interested in reporting. Whilst the MSM love to berate and ridicule the emergency services, who is there to report on the realities of serving on the front line?
Emergency Services News is currently a loss-making entity. But our team of volunteers, all former emergency services personnel, do not do it for the money.
We do it because we are sick and tired of the mainstream media constantly trying to undermine the men and women who put their lives on the line to keep you and your family safe.
How many MSM journalists who speak ill of the emergency services have actually dared to don the uniform and risk their own lives to save the life of a complete stranger? If you would like to help back our mission of reporting on fact-based news, then please consider helping to support us financially.
You can support emergency services news from as little as £1. It only takes a minute. Every contribution, however big or small, is vital for our future.
Please help us to continue to highlight the life-saving work of the emergency services, NHS and armed forces by becoming a supporter.
Deport them forever and seize their assets to pay for their defence and the costs associated with incarceration and the travel home. Simple. Nice, cheap and quick.