Police go to Poland to stop slave gangs heading for UK National Crime Agency will have a base in Poland for the first time Follows concerns country is a 'hotspot' for people-smuggling operations Vietnam, China, Albania and Nigeria will also have UK police bases 'This is organised crime and that is what the NCA is set up to tackle," David Armond, director of the NCA's Border Policing Command, said Criminal gangs are using Poland as a base for smuggling under-age prostitutes, professional benefit cheats and sham brides into Britain. Concerns that the country has become a "hotspot" for people-smuggling operations mean that officers from the new National Crime Agency will be based in Poland for the first time. They have been given instructions to hunt down the gangmasters responsible before their victims can reach our shores. Revelation: Concerns over criminal gangs using Poland as a base for people-smuggling have meant officers from the National Crime Agency will be based in the country for the first time (picture posed by models) Poland is one of five "priority" countries identified by the Home Office and the NCA. Vietnam, China, Albania and Nigeria will also have UK police bases. The former Eastern bloc country is attractive for gangs trying to bring in under-age prostitutes and other sex workers because of its EU membership - granting its citizens full access to the UK. It is also at the heart of other scams, such as sending Polish women to the UK to take part in "sham weddings" to non-EU citizens they have never even met. Bill: Theresa May will publish a new law targeting sex traffickers, people smugglers and gangmasters later this year As a result of Poland's EU status, marrying a Polish woman gives the migrant permission to remain in the UK. Poles are also forced to make fraudulent benefit claims, then hand the money over to gangs controlling them. A warning by the US Department of State, which compiles reports on countries across the globe, said: "Poles are brought to the United Kingdom by an organised crime group and subsequently coerced to commit crimes, such as benefits fraud. There have been cases of Polish men and women being fraudulently recruited to work or get married abroad and then forced or induced to traffic drugs by crime groups. The NCA begins operating next month, replacing the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the CEOP child protection agency and some functions of the UK's border force. Ministers are determined to focus its efforts on securing the nation's borders and tackling what Home Secretary Theresa May calls "modern-day slavery." The NCA Border Policing Command will have 400 officers working at ports and airports across the country looking for drugs, firearms and immigration offenders. It will also run a network of 120 officers around the world to tackle threats before they reach the UK. David Armond, director of the NCA's Border Policing Command, said: "This move will help explode the myth that people trafficked across the border against their will are somehow immigration criminals - this is organised crime and that is what the NCA is set up to tackle." Joint Border Intelligence Units consisting of 75 NCA officers and colleagues from the Border Force will be set up at ports and airports. They will share intelligence with the police, including Special Branch, immigration enforcement and HMRC. The Bulgarian government has accused Britons of being workshy and addicted to benefits. It says the UK needs East European immigrants to do jobs such as seasonal fruit picking because its nationals are not willing to work hard enough, according to a document submitted to the Home Office. Employers are having difficulty recruiting British workers because "they either cannot or will not work at the intensity required to earn the agricultural minimum wage and have little incentive to come off social security benefits," it said. The report was part of the Government's assessment of the benefits of Romanian and Bulgarian workers ahead of the expected influx of economic migrants from next January. Downing Street is seeking to renegotiate the laws that allow the free movement of EU nationals. Bulgaria denied its citizens were "benefit tourists" seeking to exploit the welfare state. Officials say this will ensure that suspicious freight consignments and passengers coming into the country will be identified more effectively and stopped from travelling, as well as controlling who gets their hands on British passports and visas. Later this year, Mrs May will publish a new law targeting sex traffickers, people smugglers and gangmasters. Those convicted of using abduction, threats or extortion to control people would face sentences of up to 14 years. The Bill will also introduce trafficking prevention orders to prevent those convicted of involvement in the slave trade from resuming their criminal activities. They would restrict a gangmaster's ability to own a company, work with children and young women and visit specified places or areas. The orders would be enforced through the use of a blacklist circulated to all ports and police forces. A Home Office spokesman said yesterday: "The NCA's Border Policing Command will strengthen the UK's ability to crack down on the trafficking of people, weapons and drugs at the border. It will work with the Border Force, police and HMRC to ensure that for the first time all law enforcement agencies in and around our border are working together to cut cross-border crime. Previously, opportunities to link investigations and develop intelligence may have been missed.