The NCA has denied it has drawn up a target list of solicitors believed to be helping organised crime groups.

The Guardian reported that the NCA is preparing a ‘sweep’ of up to 100 lawyers it believes are helping traffickers abuse modern slavery laws to secure asylum for people entering the UK.

Rob Richardson, head of the NCA’s modern slavery and human trafficking unit, told the Guardian the agency was in ‘target identification’ mode.

‘So it’s been well reported that there are concerns that particularly Albanian organised crime groups are frustrating law enforcement efforts by claiming that they are victims of trafficking or seeking asylum, and where we are particularly interested from a NCA perspective is how does the legal industry, how do lawyers, support organised crime groups to do that,’ Richardson said.

NCA

However, the NCA has denied it has any such target list of lawyers.

A spokesperson for the agency told the Gazette: ‘The NCA makes regular assessments of the scale of threat posed by professional enablers in a wide range of crime areas, including people smuggling and human trafficking. The potential abuse of modern slavery provisions is one such area where we, alongside our partners, are making such an assessment. Tackling organised immigration crime is a priority for the NCA, and we will work with law enforcement and regulatory partners to disrupt people smuggling and trafficking networks in any way we can.’

Announcing the Illegal Migration Bill in March, home secretary Suella Braverman told the Commons that modern slavery laws were being abused to block removals.

A Law Society spokesperson said: ‘Everyone should have access to legal advice and representation to uphold their rights. These are key principles of our justice system, that the profession works to uphold day in and out, while navigating tricky ethical situations.

‘There are few categories of client more vulnerable than a victim of modern slavery and that must be a paramount consideration when talking about this issue. We will continue to support our members as they meet their regulatory and ethical obligations.’

The Solicitors Regulation Authority declined to comment.

 

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