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The arrests of seven people may have "significantly disrupted" a network smuggling hundreds of Albanian migrants to the UK, police believe.

Raids took place in Hartlepool, Surrey, Oxfordshire and London on Tuesday.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the alleged ringleader of the network was among those detained.

Deputy director Andrea Wilson said people smuggling saw migrants "exploited for profit by criminals who have no regard for human life."

The penalties were "severe and life changing" and it was "simply not worth the risk", she said.

Investigators believe the alleged smugglers had contacts in France, Germany the Netherlands and Poland and used lorries and hired vans to move people to the UK from northern France.

Some migrants are believed to have paid between £20,000 and £25,000 to try and reach the UK, the NCA said.

Financial investigators have identified bank accounts alleged to belong to the network, some showing hundreds of thousands of pounds in turnover.

The NCA said about £30,000 cash was recovered in the operation.

Branch commander Richard Harrison said the network "claimed to provide a top of the range service and charged accordingly".

"This activity represented a significant threat to both the safety of the migrants involved and the security of UK border controls," he said.

The six men, aged between 26 and 44, and a 26 year-old woman are being questioned on suspicion of involvement in a number of offences.

They include suspicion of facilitating illegal immigration, conspiracy to facilitate illegal immigration, money laundering offences and suspicion of possessing false ID documents.

The NCA said Border Force officers had stopped six smuggling attempts in the six months to December 2020 and another two attempts, which have been linked to the network, were stopped in May.