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The United Kingdom has imposed sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on several Balkan-based crime figures and gangs linked to “illegal migration to the U.K.,” and members of an international network financing people-smuggling operations.
Among those targeted is the Krasniqi forgery network, a Kosovan group that, according to the U.K. Foreign Office, operated a “sophisticated forgery lab producing fake documents.”
Also sanctioned is Nusret Seferović, alleged leader of a Croatian forgery ring that supplied Balkan gangs with counterfeit Croatian passports “to facilitate entry into European countries.”
The sanctions were announced during a Western Balkans summit, which the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted with other European leaders, focused on migration, security, and economic growth.
"There’s a criminal route through the Western Balkans bringing illegal migrants to the U.K., and we’re determined to shut it down by working with European partners," said Starmer.
The government also designated ALPA Trading Company and two individuals accused of financing people-smuggling networks.
These sanctions mark the second package under the U.K.'s new Global Irregular Migration Sanctions Regime, which it described as the “world’s first” dedicated framework tackling human traffickers and smuggling networks. The first sanctions package, announced in July, sanctioned 25 individuals and criminal groups suspected of enabling people-smuggling networks. Targets ranged from a small boat supplier in Asia, to informal money movers in the Middle East.
“Our world-leading sanctions regime is a crucial tool in pursuing gangs who operate beyond our borders and exposing the shadowy networks that prop them up,” said Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper.
