Sir Keir Starmer insists the arrest of a 44-year-old Turkish man suspected of being a supplier of small boats is a "significant piece of the jigsaw" in tackling Channel migrant crossings, but says he was "not pretending it's the silver bullet". The suspect was detained at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam on Wednesday after a joint investigation by Dutch and Belgian authorities, and the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA). Report by Blairm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00It is good news that today a man suspected of being a significant supplier of small boat equipment
00:08has been arrested. Criminal gangs have been getting away with this for far too long. I want
00:15to thank the UK National Crime Agency, along with their Dutch and Belgian counterparts,
00:22for all their hard work and their crucial role in this investigation. It's exactly what we want to
00:30see and it shows that our approach of working with international partners to smash the people
00:38smuggling gangs is bearing fruit. We're dealing with gangs and groups that are making a huge
00:46amount of money from this vile trade and so it is really important that we take these vital steps
00:55against them in relation to disrupting their pattern and the way that they do their business.
01:01So that's why it's very significant that this arrest has taken place today. This is a significant
01:07piece of the jigsaw. I'm not pretending it's the silver bullet,
01:11there are other steps that are going to be necessary, but this is a very important step.