Three men arrested as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into the attempted smuggling of 69 Albanian migrants into the UK on a fishing vessel have today been charged.

Shotley residents were rudely awakened in November last year when a large scale operation, including helicopters , Border Force patrol vessels and immigration officers.

In the latest developments, Arturas Jusas, aged 34, a Lithuanian national of Wandsworth Road, Lambeth; Kfir Ivgi, 32, an Israeli national living in Corrigan Close, Finchley; and Sergejs Kuliss, 39, of Hartlake Road, Tonbridge in Kent, were detained by NCA officers in a series of raids yesterday and today charged.

The Crown Prosecution Service has now authorised charges of conspiring to facilitate illegal immigration, and they will appear before Southend Magistrates later today.

The operation follows the interception of the fishing boat Svanic off the coast of East Anglia on 17 November last year, as part of a joint operation involving the NCA, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force.

The boat had sailed from the Ostend area of Belgium and was carrying 69 Albanian passengers.

It was escorted into Harwich where the three crew, a Latvian national and two Ukrainian nationals, were arrested on suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration. They were subsequently charged.

NCA Regional Head of Investigation Jacque Beer said: "Those arrested today are suspected of having played a key role in the events which led up to the interception of the Svanic in November last year.

"This was a serious attempt to breach the UK's border controls, and our investigation into that incident continues.

"But today's activity once again demonstrates our determination to disrupt and dismantle people smuggling networks wherever they are operating. It is a key priority for the NCA."

Full story of immigration raid.