Officers from the National Crime Agency are being sent to Austria and Romania to 'disrupt and dismantle' gangs who are smuggling migrants through the countries on their way to Britain.
Both nations are in the Schengen free movement area and are common stop-off points for criminals moving people and equipment from Italy,Greece,the Balkans and eastern Europe to the coast of northern France.
The foreign deployment is part of a £70million cash injection diverted from the scrapped Rwanda scheme into the new Border Security Command (BSO),which is central to Labour's bid to reduce Channel crossings.
The unit,which will be led by Martin Hewitt - the police chief formerly responsible for enforcing Covid lockdowns - will bring together hundreds of officers from the NCA,M15,Border Force and the Crown Prosecution Service.
On a visit to Rome yesterday to meet Italian PM Giorgia Meloni,Sir Keir Starmer said he was particularly interested in her work to tackle 'upstream' issues,including in migrants' countries of origin.
Sir Keir was accompanied by new Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt,with the pair touring a centre in Rome dedicated to tackling illegal migration
On average,gangs are squeezing an average of 52 migrants on each boat - increasing the danger for those making the hazardous crossing. Almost 1,100 migrants arrived in the UK over the weekend.
So far this year,at least 39 migrants have died while making the crossing - with eight losing their lives on Saturday.
In July,during the trial of Albanian national Eglantin Doksani,24,it emerged that his smuggling gang were charging migrants £3,000 for a seat on a boat.
Since January 1,some 23,544 migrants have crossed the English Channel on board 447 boats.
In 2018,499 migrants arrived in the UK on 43 small boats - an average of almost 7 people per vessel.
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