When it comes to illegal immigration, the focus is usually on the issue of small boats crossing from France.
But criminals are also smuggling in migrants using an alternative route – Britain’s Common Travel Area (CTA) with Ireland.
Law enforcement say the CTA, which allows British and Irish citizens to pass freely between both countries, is being exploited by illegal migrants and smuggling gangs as a ‘back-entry route’ into the UK.
To clamp down on this method, police and immigration officials launched a crackdown which led to the arrests of 32 immigration offenders at UK-Ireland seaports and airports.
The Daily Mail witnessed the operation unfold at Holyhead, with ferry passengers scanned with live facial recognition as they moved through the terminal.
The operation also saw lorries searched for stowaways and contraband as they entered the port, with separate checks carried out next to a motorway outside the town.
DCC Wendy Gunney leads the Domestic Organised Immigration Crime taskforce, which coordinated the three-day operation alongside Immigration Enforcement, Border Force, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and police forces.
UK Border Force staff watch passengers arrive off a ferry at Holyhead passenger terminal earlier this week
Passengers were scanned with live facial recognition against a database of known immigration offenders
‘The Common Travel Area is exploited by criminal gangs as a back-entry route into the UK, so our operation is about making our borders as robust as they can be,’ she told the Mail.
‘Creating a visible presence at the border is a good deterrent and we’ve been using live facial recognition technology as well.’
As well as illegal migrants, gangs also use the CTA to move drugs and black market goods, DCC Gunney explained.
There is no passport control between Britain and Ireland, although passengers are required to bring some form of photo ID and officials regularly carry out spot checks.
‘The threat from the Common Travel Area is going up in relation to organised crime elements,’ said DCC Gunney.
‘Small boat arrivals are very visible and there is a lot of effort going into that, but our job is to ensure all entry points to the UK are protected.
‘The taskforce has been really key to driving up intelligence.’
Facial recognition vans work by using cameras to automatically scan the facial features of passers–by and record measurements, such as the distance between the eyes.
This data is then compared to an existing watch–list while an officer checks the matches flagged by the system.
Civil liberties activists claim the rollout of live facial recognition represents a ‘significant expansion of the surveillance state’.
Officers search a lorry containing frozen food. No stowaways or illicit cargo was found inside
A lorry moving through Holyhead port during this week’s operation
However, DCC Gunney insisted it was a ‘tried-and-tested technology’ and innocent members of the public who were not on an existing watch lift had ‘nothing to fear’.
As well as Holyhead, the ports of Loch Ryan in Scotland, Heysham in Lancashire, and Birkenhead on Merseyside were also flooded with officers during the crackdown.
Among the 32 arrested was a man from Lesotho who did not have valid entry to the UK and was wanted by Irish authorities for a domestic violence offence.
The man, who had an extensive criminal history in Ireland, was immediately returned to Ireland and into the arms of the Irish authorities.
Four Pakistani men who arrived at Birmingham airport from Belfast were found to not have valid UK visas and all had outstanding UK asylum claims.
As they had broken their reporting conditions by traveling to Northern Ireland, all four men had their asylum applications withdrawn.
Ben Thomas, Regional lead for Immigration Enforcement, said the operation had delivered ‘swift justice’ to immigration offenders exploiting the CTA.
Following a traffic stop on the A55 in North Wales, an Indian man was found to be a visa overstayer with a failed asylum application.
An aerial view of Holyhead port, the second busiest passenger ferry terminal in the UK
He was also suspected of working illegally for a delivery company. The Home Office said ‘efforts were underway’ to deport him and the company may be fined.
In 2024, 14 Albanians were found hiding inside a livestock wagon that had travelled into the British mainland from Northern Ireland.
In other cases, migrants have been found going between the UK and Ireland to claim benefits in both countries at once.
Alex Norris, the Minister for Border Security and Asylum, said: ‘We are continuing to deliver in our fight against those who attempt to make a mockery of our borders.’
