How Ireland is latest back door into Britain

IlleGAl immigrants are paying as much as £10,000 to be smuggled into Britain through Ireland, it is claimed.

People traffickers are avoiding the Channel crossing, where the Uk concentrates much of its border security, and flying migrants from Paris to dublin to take advantage of fewer checks.

Migrants who have made the crossing claim they travelled with eU passports obtained by the smugglers, which were not checked when crossing between Ireland and Britain.

After arriving in dublin, they take a bus or a train to Belfast, where they can catch a ferry to Scotland and then travel by land to london.

One Iranian immigrant who paid £10,000 to travel by the new route told the BBC he was ‘not worried’ about being caught.

He claimed the Greek passport, which he bought from the smugglers, was not checked after going through customs in dublin. The unnamed migrant said: ‘This route from dublin is still fresh and the police do not focus on it as they do at Gatwick or Heathrow.’

The circuitous route from Paris to london is over 1,000 miles, compared to just 30 miles travelling from Calais to dover.

MPs told MailOnline that any route for illegal immigrants via dublin or Ireland’s ports must be immediately closed.

Britain should also demand stricter searches for ‘ fake papers’ in Ireland and introduce a tightly controlled visa system for eU visitors after Brexit, they added.

Tory MP Nigel evans said: ‘The British Government have got to make absolutely certain that when people come into the Uk from Ireland proper identification has got to be shown. There cannot be a back door into the Uk.’

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has also expressed concern, saying at a Brexit conference: ‘you’re going to get people [coming] in here.

‘ let’s be honest about it. Wouldn’t you be an awful eejit if you were trying to get into the eU and you didn’t [try the route]?’. Mr evans said while he believed the post-Brexit visa regime should freely allow eU citizens to visit Britain, ‘we must absolutely close down any routes that could lead to uncontrolled immigration’.

He added: ‘We need to work with the Irish government, because they should be concerned about any illegal immigration.’

But fellow MP Peter Bone said that illegal immigration routes could only be closed down by tackling ‘opportunist’ trafficking gangs who spotted loopholes in the borders.

‘It looks like these people are being trafficked by gangs,’ he told MailOnline. ‘Most of them will have fake papers.

‘What should happen is the National Crime Agency will target the gangs.

‘Once it has become clear it is happening it is easy to take down the gangs.

‘you don’t solve these problems by having lots of checks on the border.’ A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The Uk and Irish governments work closely on border security.’

‘Taking advantage of fewer checks’