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Three foreign nationals have been charged with people smuggling offences after a fishing boat was intercepted off the coast of East Anglia.
As part of an intelligence-led operation involving the National Crime Agency (NCA), Immigration Enforcement and the Border Force, the vessel was located on Tuesday evening.
The three crew members, Igor Kosyi, 56, and Volodymyr Mykhailov, 48, both from Ukraine, and Aleksandrs Gulpe, 43, from Latvia, appeared at Colchester Magistrates Court and have each been remanded into custody.
The boat had sailed from the Ostend area of Belgium and was accompanied into Harwich harbour by Border Force cutters ‘Searcher’ and ‘Vigilant’ in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
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