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Ferrying illegal immigrants to Scotland

Ferry Online Travel News 01/05/2008

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Ports in Scotland are catching a growing number of illegal immigrants

An increasing number of illegal immigrants are coming into Britain by ferry. In the past four years, police have captured over a thousand people in south west Scotland who have illegally entered the country.

Between 2004 and 2007, the numbers of foreign nationals detained at Cairnryan and Stranraer has more than doubled. In addition, police detected cases of trafficking in people for the purposes of the sex trade.

After the airports in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, police say that Scotland’s prots are the busiest entry points into the country. Annually, 1.9million passengers and 900,000 vehicles use port facilities in Scotland.

Illegal immigrants from 67 different countries have been stopped by the police in the past four years, including those from Pakistan, Sudan, Iraq, Romania, Nigeria and Afghanistan.

Detective Chief Inspector Steven Carr staffs the ports. "Our primary function is protection of UK security," he said. "But during the course of our work we come across other offences."

In addition to immigration offences, port authorities also come across offences related to drugs and crimes. "The staff here are multi-skilled because there is a multitude of offences," said DCI Carr.

The high number of illegal immigrants is partially due to organized crime in the UK. "It is a well-documented process that organised crime groups make a lot of money out of charging people extortionate amounts to come into the UK,” said DCI Carr. "Organised crime groups are very proficient at it - in many ways it is safer than drugs or other forms of contraband."

The police are working closely with ferry operators in Dumfries and Galloway on the problem.

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