WIREDGOV

Government ramps up passenger screening

News Release issued by the COI News Distribution Service on 11 March 2010

The UK's latest weapon in the fight against terrorists, known criminals and would-be illegal migrants was opened today by the Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

The National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC) is the UK Border Agency's hi-tech hub where watch-list checks on passengers entering and leaving Britain will be carried out.

The unit, based in Manchester, will replace the smaller Joint Border Operations Centre (JBOC) at Heathrow as the operational hub for e-Borders, which electronically checks passenger data before they even set foot on a plane.

UK Border Agency officers will work alongside the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Police to share intelligence and issue alerts where a suspect is identified by the electronic border checks.

It is expected that the new centre will create 250 jobs in the North West of England, and enable the UK Border Agency to meet its tough target of screening 100 per cent of passenger movements in and out of the UK by air, sea or rail by 2014.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson said:

"Thanks to our hi-tech e-Borders system the UK now has one of the strongest borders in the world. It means we can count people in and out of the UK and capture known criminals, terror suspects and illegal migrants while gathering evidence against smugglers and people traffickers.

"Already e-Borders has had a huge impact, helping us catch more than 5,400 criminals including rapists and murderers.

"This new centre will up the ante, increasing the amount of data we can screen, so we can track all passenger movements in and out of the UK by 2014."

More than 100 million passenger movements in and out of the UK were checked against UK Border Agency and police watch lists last year. The checks alerted the police to wanted UK and foreign nationals flying into British airports, allowing arrests to be made as soon as the individual landed or for them to be returned on the next flight.

The NBTC receives information on passengers and crew and, over time, will check an estimated 250 million passenger movements per year. It will also process visa application data for overseas posts by checking the applicant and sponsor details against watch-lists.

These watch-list checks are just one part of the triple ring of security that protects Britain, alongside fingerprint checks when people apply for visas and ID cards locking foreign nationals to one identity.

Since the e-Borders system was launched in May 2009 it has had considerable success - leading to the identification of people smugglers, the confiscation of fraudulently used British passports and the seizure of millions of pounds worth of drugs and tobacco. Since May there have been over 30,000 alerts.

CASE STUDIES

CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, British national, male, 53 Flight: Kuwait, Dubai - Newcastle Airport

Alert received, Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre arranged for subject to be stopped. On searching him they found a large amount of child pornography. Subject was also wanted in USA for child rape. The individual was remanded awaiting trial for images and US authorities are seeking to extradite him for the child rape offence.

MURDER - Somali national, male, 20 Flight: Dubai - London Heathrow

Alert received for passenger returning to Britain who was wanted for murder. He had fled following the fatal stabbing. He was arrested, found guilty and sentenced to a minimum 18 years.

ATTEMPTED ROBBERY X 2, British national, male, 31 Flight: Dubai - London Heathrow

Alert received about an individual who had committed two attempted armed robberies in Bradford. He had fled the country, but was arrested on his return. The individual was found guilty and sentenced to over six years in prison.

FRAUD / MONEY LAUNDERING - £1.8 million, British national, male, 52 Flight: Bangkok - London Heathrow

Alert received of man who had power of attorney for elderly care home resident. Over five years he transferred over £1.8 million from her account. He then fled to Thailand.
He was arrested on return and sentenced to seven and a half years imprisonment.

ROBBERY - British national, male, 20 Flight: Kingston, Jamaica - London Gatwick

Alert received as the individual was wanted for a street robbery. Police were notified and he was arrested. When searched he was found to have 300g of cocaine strapped to his body. Police handed him back to the UK Border Agency. He was charged with importation of illegal drugs and received four years imprisonment.

SMUGGLING 10KG HERBAL RESIN - Polish national, male, 34 Flight: Amsterdam - London Heathrow
Alert received, so passenger was met at passport control. He was searched at customs were officers found 10kg herbal resin in his luggage. He was arrested for possession and sentenced to over two years. He was deported in September 2009.

FALSE DOCUMENTATION - Pakistani national, male, 39 Flight: Pakistan - London Heathrow

Alert received on a passenger travelling on British passport, stating he was not the rightful owner. He was met at passport control and found to have forged documents on him. He was refused leave to enter and removed the following day.

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. The e-Borders system was launched by the UK Border Agency in May 2009, following the successful trial of Project Semaphore.

2. e-Borders requires carriers and owner/operators of all vessels (air, sea and rail) due to arrive in or depart from the UK to electronically submit detailed passenger and crew data to the e-Borders system prior to travel.

3. Carriers on high risk routes can be required to provide reservation data, known as Other Passenger Information (OPI), to the e-Borders system, but only if it has been collected in the normal course of their business.

4. The carrier collects the data held within a passport or other travel document. This is sent to the operations centre of the e-Borders system where it is run against a number of watchlists.

5. e-Borders is just one of the steps the UK Border Agency has introduced to target criminals. Others include:

* a freight targeting system that provides real-time risk assessment and powerful new scanners to detect smuggled goods at port;

* providing detection technology and training to other countries, including to the special fraud unit of Nigeria's Police Force - assisting it in tracking down the manufacturers and suppliers of fraudulent documents;

* UKBA officers stationed around the world stopping 42,000 inadequately documented passengers from boarding flights bound for the UK last year;

* between April and September 2009 teams identifying 350 potential victims of trafficking including 104 children; and

* seizing £343 million worth of illicit drugs, 5,800 dangerous weapons and 3,165,849 items of counterfeit and pirated goods between April 2008 and March 2009.

Contacts:

Home Office Press Office
Phone: 020 7035 3535
NDS.HO@coi.gsi.gov.uk