Asylum seekers exploiting Border security, claims report

SEVERAL thousand asylum seekers are now travelling back and forth across the Border every year, an intelligence report in Britain has concluded.

Intelligence services tracking criminal gangs said the crossborder route “has been identified as significant for migrants travelling in both directions”.

Some of the migrants are applying for asylum in both jurisdictions, according to the National Criminal Intelligence Services (NCIS) report published yesterday.

The report claimed: “The Irish Republic is used by some migrants as a back door to the UK. Since there are no immigration controls on the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland, arrivals in the Irish Republic can claim asylum there, then travel unhindered to Northern Ireland and claim again in the UK.

“It has been estimated that several thousand migrants travel in each direction every year,” it said.

The NCIS report claims there has been a recent tightening of immigration controls in to the State from Britain. “As a result, migrants tend to travel to the UK directly from the Irish Republic either by air or ferry, returning via Northern Ireland by exploiting the unmanned land border,” said the report.

Immigration officials here said there has been a large increase in the number of immigration checks along the border. The report concludes: “Whether trading in people, drugs or other commodities, serious and organised criminals are adept at exploiting any weaknesses in transport systems and border controls.

“Facilitators have shown flexibility and speed in responding to law enforcement efforts, changing routes and methods to avoid enforcement hotspots and counter improved detection capabilities,” it said.

The most common method of moving illegal migrants across borders is simply to hide them in a vehicle and drive across, the report stated.

“However, serious and organised criminals exploit weak border controls through a range of other methods, including the use of false travel documents, the abuse of genuine documents by lookalike migrants, and bribery of officials at air and sea ports,” it said.