9. Memorandum submitted by
Cambridgeshire Constabulary
PURPOSE
This document sets out to answer a request from
the Home Affairs Select Committee for information from police
forces on immigration frauds in which a third party receives payment
for securing immigration and identity documents.
BACKGROUND
Cambridgeshire is a mainly rural county with large
centres of population in the North, at Peterborough, and South,
at Cambridge. The central area of Cambridgeshire is mainly agricultural
including the "fens" which is an area of very rich,
highly productive farmland.
Peterborough is very ethnically diverse and currently
receives approximately 86% of all NASS cases for the East of England.
The central area provides opportunities for casual labour to work
in the fields and the produce packing industry. Cambridge has
a university of international acclaim, many language schools and
a thriving high technology sector. Consequently, there is a lot
of employment in lower paid support roles for these enterprises.
The rural area around Cambridge is heavily farmed and requires
casual labour.
In July 2005, Cambridgeshire analysts produced a
"problem profile" looking at the Facilitation of
Organised Immigration Crime Using False Documentation in Cambridgeshire.
This document concluded that third party document crime occurred
mainly in the north of the county but did exist in the other areas.
SUMMARY OF
FINDINGS
— Portuguese, French, Italian, Greek,
Belgian and British documents are available.
— To find a British document is rare.
— Those providing documents appear
to specialise in supplying documents to people of one or two nationalities.
— Information on document production
is limited, but the tendency is for documents to be produced "out
of county" and sometimes abroad.
— Both locals and individuals from
out of the area who have a connection to Cambridgeshire supply
documents.
— Migrants use false documents to
obtain employment, open bank accounts and prove (false) identity.
— There is no clear picture of criminality,
particularly around the production of documents.
CURRENT TRENDS
There is a growing trend for crime to be committed
by migrant workers and immigrants. And a proportion of these offenders,
are found to have false documents. Of those found with false documents,
there seems to be some correlation between Brazilians with false
Portuguese documents and North Africans with false French or Belgian
documents. There is also an increase in eastern Europeans from
outside of the EU producing documents from the new accession states.
The Immigration Service has confirmed these links.
Submitted for the Committee's information.
Detective Sergeant Andy Peacock
Overseas Visitors Registration Supervisor
10 February 2006
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