The UK government has allocated an additional £100 million to disrupt criminal gangs that organise small-boat crossings of the English Channel, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced on Sunday. The money will finance up to 300 extra National Crime Agency officers, new detection technology and other equipment intended to strengthen investigations into the multinational smuggling networks that move people from mainland Europe to the UK. It will also support a pilot of the recently agreed “one in, one out” arrangement with France, under which some irregular arrivals will be returned across the Channel in exchange for the UK accepting an equivalent number of vetted asylum seekers. Officials say more than 25,000 people reached the UK by small boat before the end of July, the highest total recorded at this point in the calendar year. The Home Office is also drafting a new criminal offence that would carry up to five years in prison for publishing online material that promotes or facilitates illegal entry, such as advertising boat passages or forged documents. Cooper said the measures form part of a broader plan to dismantle smuggling operations and reduce the asylum backlog, while opposition Conservatives criticised the spending as insufficient to curb crossings.