A new police boat is being deployed in Devon and Cornwall because of an anticipated surge in illegal immigration. The Home Office has funded the vessel as it is expected people smugglers will target the region as enforcement in the Channel intensifies. It will act as a deterrent to organised crime groups and allow officers to intercept and board vessels when dealing with high-level organised crime threats. Devon and Cornwall Police have had fewer than 10 cases of organised immigration crime in the last two years. He said: “That is what some of the intelligence suggests – that people smugglers and drug smugglers are coming further down the south coast as activity intensifies around the Channel coasts.