SMUGGLERS HAVE operated largely unhindered across the Border, an independent report has claimed.
The UK Border Agency report found that officials were hampered because of fears over personal security. However, it also found that some Northern ports and airports are “wide open”.
An examination of facilities in Northern Ireland concluded there was too much emphasis on passport control and not enough on counter-smuggling operations.
The report said the checking of air freight had been largely overlooked and that there had been too much dependence on the use of old intelligence.
It criticised the lack of regular reassessment of risks, particularly at City of Derry airport and Belfast City Airport. These had been assessed as low-risk, but the agency’s chief inspector, John Vine, could find little evidence of re-examination.
A similar picture was found at many of the North’s small ports.
Mr Vine, who examined controls and checks in both the North and Scotland, said: “I found that the focus of staff deployment at airports was concentrated on the primary checkpoint (passport control), potentially at the expense of illicit commodity detection.
“I found that only 63 out of 683 threat assessments of small air and seaports had been conducted in the whole of Scotland and Northern Ireland, with none since 2008.” He added: “At the ports inspected, I was surprised to find that the agency had not made any seizures from freight containers for the 14-month period between the end of September 2009 and our inspection in November 2010.
“The agency needs to improve the way it identifies and addresses threats to the UK border in Scotland and Northern Ireland.” Control of borders is not a responsibility which is devolved to the Stormont Executive.
UK immigration minister Damian Green acknowledged the critical report and pointed to recent successes.
“This government is committed to radically reforming the immigration system and improving border security,” he said.
“It’s clear that improvements are already under way with the agency working closer than ever with the police and Serious Organised Crime Agency, and frontline officers improving their use of intelligence at the Border and within the Common Travel Area.”
He added: “In the past year alone, officers in Scotland and Northern Ireland have detected and removed more than 1,500 immigration offenders, stopped hundreds of people from illegally entering the UK and have prevented more than 100kg of drugs from reaching the streets.”