Small UK ports are smuggling hot spots
CRIMINAL gangs are now using small ports around Britain to smuggle hundreds of migrants into the United Kingdom, according to police.
Europol, Europe’s policing agency, has identified a dozen “migrant smuggling hot spots” in the UK, while the National Crime Agency (NCA) says gangs are increasingly targeting small harbours that are not protected by border officials.
Amid growing criticism of Britain’s border security after a boat carrying 18 Albanians was rescued last week off Dymchurch in Kent, Europol’s director, Rob Wainwright, suggested it is “difficult” for Britain to defend all its borders with “finite” resources. He added that the UK Border Force has to make “tactical decisions”.
Yesterday, a group of 17 East African migrants were found by police hiding in the back of a lorry at a cosmetics factory in Ashford, Kent. Ten adults, among the group of 14 men and women and three children, are being held in a detention centre on suspicion of having entered the country illegally. Four other adults have been released while their cases are considered.
Meanwhile, in Dieppe, around 150 Albanians were said to be camping at the foot of cliffs before trying to come to the UK as the demolition of parts of the “Jungle” immigrant camp at Calais has led large numbers to switch their attention to other cross-channel ports.
Channel 4 News found the men sleeping in tents outside the town.
Mr Wainwright said: “I think, as I’m sure the UK Border Force understands, it has to plug all gaps in the border and this is an example of how difficult it is sometimes to get the balance right.
“They’ve got finite resources like any other public-sector organisation. They have to make tactical decisions on a daily basis. Normally those would be on the major port areas, for obvious reasons. And, because of that, normally they are very successful, by standards of other European countries, in apprehending most illegal attempts to get into the country.”
However, he added: “When you are in the business of targeting resources where intelligence takes you, then sometimes one or two things will slip through.”
According to the NCA, gangs are charging desperate migrants more than £10,000 to come to Britain. Last week, one Briton was arrested at Chichester marina after he was found alongside 17 Albanians who had crossed the Channel in a catamaran.
The NCA reports that people smugglers are using rigid-hulled inflatable boats to take migrants to “shallow beaches”, including the popular tourist town of Whitstable in Kent.
Other ports increasingly being targeted include Hull, Immingham in Lincolnshire, Tilbury and Purfleet in Essex, Newhaven in Sussex and Portsmouth in Hampshire.
A UK Border Force whistleblower told The Daily Telegraph that the passport details of lorry drivers coming by ferry from Belgium into Immingham, Britain’s biggest container port, were also not checked automatically. Guards instead relied on lists of names that are handed in by ferry companies.
Earlier this year, the independent Chief Inspector of Borders, David Bolt, warned that officials were not collecting details about the identity of passengers entering the country on small boats. Mr Bolt said that ships’ captains routinely ignore legal obligations to report their movements and who they have on board, while the Border Force rates its own performance as poor in 27 out of 28 areas.
Mr Bolt also criticised the absence of any advance passenger information for people arriving in the UK on small boats, which it described as a “significant gap” in border security.
Dymchurch residents yesterday criticised the Border Force after it emerged that officials questioned a man on a beach more than two weeks before the 18 Albanians were found. A picture passed to The Daily Telegraph, taken at midday on May 11, appears to show the man attempting to persuade officials to hand back his boat.
The craft was found on a deserted beach and, according to witnesses, was packed with 30 life-jackets and had vomit on one of its sides. The man was said to have returned to the scene after leaving the boat deserted under cover of darkness. He is believed to have told officials he abandoned it overnight after it broke down coming to shore.
After the incident, CCTV footage from local shops in Dymchurch High Street appears to show a gang of four smugglers returning to the same location on four occasions, between May 11 and May 28. The men are believed to be part of sophisticated smuggling operations, involving inflatable highspeed boats similar to the one confiscated by the Border Agency.
Roger Wilkins, 68, chairman of the parish council, accused border officials of attempting to keep “everything under wraps”. He said: “I do know that they’ve been using this area in the last few months, these men.”