Single Border Force to Protect North West
| Published: 20th March 2008 21:00 |
Single Border Force to Protect North West
Organised criminals trying to cheat their way into the North West are about to come up against a single border force.
The work of immigration and customs is being brought together, in April, to strengthen border controls across the region. This will mean that passengers and goods will be checked by one organisation - the UK Border Agency.
Visiting officers from HM Revenue & Customs and the Border and Immigration Agency today at Manchester Airport, Immigration Minister Liam Byrne said:
"I came to Manchester Airport today to find out from staff how the two organisations are beginning to work more closely together. Our single border force with new police powers is the public face of the biggest shake-up of Britain's border security for 45 years.
"Staff at the airport are the frontline in identifying threats to our border security.
"Criminals don't distinguish between people and illegal goods, like drugs, fake cigarettes and bootleg alcohol. They smuggle both because they stand to make a lot of money from the illegal trade. That's why we need a single border force to stop them."
Immigration officers now have new powers enabling them to:
* obtain information from customs to identify illegal immigrants and benefit cheats;
* prosecute traffickers and people smugglers who make money out of human misery; and
* pursue, search and detain anyone of interest to the authorities for criminal reasons.
During his visit the Minister saw how a specially trained 'cash and drugs dog' and a meat dog is used by Customs officers to detect suspect money. Detection dogs have been one of the most successful tools in protecting the British public from the dangers of illegal drugs and money laundering.
Behind the scenes at the airport, officers use cutting-edge technology to combat ID fraud, including scanners which check whether the passport genuinely belongs to the person using it. Any document that looks like it has been tampered with is taken away for further analysis by forgery detection equipment.
Manchester Airport is the largest airport outside of London. 22 million passengers pass through the airport every year. 150,000 tonnes of freight passed through the airport in 2005. Container freight is searched and scanned by customs officers, while immigration officers have access to watch-lists to stop people barred from coming to the UK.
Passengers arriving at Manchester Airport are now being met by officers in uniform. New signage, showing where the UK's border is also on display. Both changes will make it clearer to the travelling public that they are approaching a secure border.
The creation of the UK Border Agency comes at a time of massive reform to the immigration system. Visas now contain fingerprints so that British immigration officers, based overseas, know the true identity of the applicant.
The Government is also rolling out a £1.2bn electronic-Border systems which will collect information about passengers buying tickets to come to the UK. This effectively moves the UK border further away from Britain so that would-be illegal immigrants can be stopped earlier. The system will also enable the Government to count people in and out of the UK.
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