UK-funded drones have helped intercept hundreds of migrants and smugglers crossing into Europe through the Western Balkans

By DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 17:19, 12 July 2026 | Updated: 17:20, 12 July 2026 British-funded drones have helped to intercept hundreds of migrants and smugglers crossing into Europe through the Western Balkans. The state-of-the-art technology, provided by the UK taxpayer, is helping authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina monitor remote terrain, including mine-infested forest. People smugglers have for years used the Western Balkan route to evade detection, with some of the migrants brought into continental Europe then making their way to Britain across the Channel. The Foreign Office said data from local authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina showed the drones had contributed to operations which led to the interception of more than 900 migrants and their smugglers. Dozens of people traffickers have been arrested in the region in the last year, including the operators of a network that smuggled about 100 migrants to Europe every week. Europe minister Stephen Doughty, who met law enforcement chiefs and prosecutors in the area earlier this month, said: ‘People smuggling gangs do not stop at borders, so neither can our response. ‘Through close cooperation with Bosnia and Herzegovina and partners across the Western Balkans, we have helped support the arrests of multiple smugglers, disrupting the networks that profit from human misery.’ Europe minister Stephen Doughty, right, inspects British-funded drone equipment being used in Bosnia and Herzegovina to detect migrants entering Europe. Part of the equipment is obscured for security reasons The Western Balkan route is typically used by migrants from Sudan, Afghanistan and Syria — the same nationalities frequently encountered crossing the Channel, a Foreign Office spokesman said. There were more than 145,000 crossings through the Balkan route – which also includes those through the territories of Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Croatia – in 2022. But numbers have fallen sharply to less than 15,000 in 2025 due to heightened security measures, according to the European Union border agency Frontex.