Migrant smugglers targeting our small defenceless airfields
Judge’s warning as he jails pilot who flew in Albanians
A JUDGE warned small airfields were defenceless against people smugglers after jailing a pilot who flew in three Albanians.
Judge Stephen Holt said dozens of the runways were ‘extremely vulnerable’ because they could not be monitored by officials.
He voiced his concern after hearing the case of Algirdas Barteska who turned off the transponder on his plane to avoid being tracked as he approached a private flying club in Seething, Norfolk.
Officials, who had been tipped off about two trial runs made by Barteska, detained two Albanian adults and a child after he landed.
They then sprinted after his plane as it taxied along at around 6mph to take off again and banged on the cockpit window to force him to stop. The Lithuanian former airline pilot claimed he had made an urgent landing to allow the woman and her child to use the toilet.
But he had not logged his passengers’ presence and immigration officials said it ‘stretched credulity’ that someone with such experience did not know he was breaking the law by landing with them.
Barteska, 60, was jailed for six years after a jury took just two hours to find him guilty of assisting people smuggling. The maximum term is seven years.
Judge Holt said: ‘This case does fall into the more serious category and there has to be a deterrent. Small airfields, particularly in Norfolk, are just defenceless. There just isn’t the manpower and there has to be a deterrent aspect.
‘There are dozens of small airfields in East Anglia which are extremely vulnerable to this sort of people smuggling.
‘There are people on duty at the major ports but that is the problem. There cannot be people on duty at every single small airfield and that makes them vulnerable.’
He ordered the confiscation of 5,000 euros found on the plane in 500 euro notes – believed to have been Barteska’s fee.
Last year the Adam Smith Institute claimed Border Force was failing to screen more than 4,000 high-risk flights each year.
The think-tank said that these included charter planes and private jets that land at remote airfields and do not provide advance passenger information to officials, exposing the UK to the risk of terrorists sneaking in.
Barteska told Norwich Crown Court his passengers were on board on June 24 last year because they were interested in purchasing his employer’s grey Cessna light aircraft.
He was on a scheduled flight from Dinslaken, Germany, to Nottingham but claimed to be travelling alone.
When he hit turbulence he headed to Seething because the ‘screaming’ woman and the fiveyear-old girl had become ill and he only had one sick bag on board.
‘I had no idea and had no intention of doing anything illegal,’ he said. ‘I am a normal pilot who flies a plane safely.’
But the jury heard Barteska had done test runs to Seething on May 8 and Old Buckenham, also in Norfolk, two days later.
A member of public became suspicious about the second trip and tipped off Border Force staff. The plane’s details were logged and it was tracked when it arrived in UK airspace again.
The transponder was switched off minutes before landing and officers saw the pilot helping his passengers out.
Two Border Force staff then sprinted after the plane and banged on the cockpit window to force it to stop. A vehicle heard speeding away is believed to have been due to pick up the passengers.
The court heard the Albanian man was deported within a week but the mother and daughter were still here after applying for asylum. Barteska will be deported after serving his sentence.
Last week terror laws watchdog David Anderson QC said small ports, beaches and marinas were an easy route in as they were not policed.
Last May 18 Albanians were rescued by coastguards from a sinking dinghy off the Kent coast. The Border Force budget has been slashed by £120million in three years to £497million in 2015-16.