A man has been arrested in Penge after hundreds of attempts were made to smuggle migrants into the UK.

Alket Dauti, 31, was arrested at his address in Penge this morning as part of a UK-Belgian investigation.

Officers believe Dauti, an Albanian national, may be the ringleader of a gang suspected of corrupting truck drivers into smuggling people into the UK.

Migrants would be brought in from Belgium and transported here via the Channel ports.

Dauti will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ and could be extradited to Belgium to face smuggling charges.

Ten others have been arrested in Belgium, France and Spain as part of the investigation.

NCA branch commander, Aaron Chappell, said: “Organised criminals involved in people smuggling treat humans as just another commodity they can make money out of, with little or no regard for their safety.

“This is demonstrated by the fact they were perfectly happy for men, women and children to spend hours travelling hundreds of miles in freezing refrigerated lorries.

“Through our close working with the Belgian Federal Police and prosecutors we believe we have been able to take out the UK end of this network, and they will now face the courts in Belgium.”

Investigators believe the criminal group are responsible for hundreds of attempts to smuggle migrants into the UK every week.

Frank Demeester, Belgian Federal prosecutor for West Flanders, added: “We have worked together with the NCA and this case proves that international co-operation is the only way to handle organised crime groups involved in people smuggling.

“Through doing that we believe we have managed to reach the very top of this criminal organisation.”