Immigration Enforcement teams have arrested forty-nine suspects in a three-day operation aimed at shutting down organised gangs exploiting the UK–Ireland Common Travel Area (CTA), the Home Office revealed on 30 September. Codenamed Operation Comby, the sweep covered seaports, airports, roads and rail hubs across Northern Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales between 22 and 24 September. Among those detained were two Romanian women intercepted at Belfast International Airport and four Romanian nationals stopped at Belfast Port with £130,000 of counterfeit electronics, highlighting the nexus between illegal entry and wider criminality. Authorities also seized nearly half a million pounds in cash and gathered intelligence on trafficking networks. The latest push brings total arrests under Operation Comby since 2024 to more than 250, of whom 113 have already been removed from the UK. The CTA allows British and Irish citizens to travel freely, but the loophole is routinely abused by third-country nationals who enter the Republic of Ireland legally and then attempt clandestine onward journeys into the UK. For businesses this can translate into compliance risks—from right-to-work breaches to penalties under the Illegal Working provisions that came into force in June 2026. The Home Office has pledged to double the Immigration Enforcement budget by 2028/29 and boost staff numbers by 60 percent, signalling that surprise workplace audits are likely to intensify. Global-mobility practitioners moving staff between UK and Irish sites should take note: documentation checks at ferry ports such as Cairnryan–Larne and on cross-border rail services are becoming more frequent. Companies employing short-term project workers in Belfast, Glasgow and Liverpool are advised to audit personnel files to ensure visas, BRPs or eVisas are correctly linked to current passports, as mismatches may trigger detentions at internal CTA controls.
Source: Home Office (GOV.UK)
