25. Memorandum submitted by
Northumbria Police
I refer to the ACPO Home Affairs Committee inquiry
into the policy and practice of immigration control in the UK.
I would like to make the following observations from a Northumbria
Police perspective, in response to the questions raised regarding
scams in which a third party receives payment for securing documents
that a foreign national needs to enter the country:
1. How big a problem these kinds of scams
are?
We have not received any information or intelligence
in relation to anyone being involved in the provision of British
documentation to foreign countries. It is likely that such intelligence
would be forwarded to NCIS in the first instance for onward dissemination
to the relevant force.
2. Whether they are a growing problem?
To date we have no intelligence to suggest it
is a growing problem although in March 2005 a number of blank
French passports were recovered in Newcastle and an arrest of
a Chinese student was made.
3. The different types of scam which are going
on, including any loopholes in the law that are being exploited
Through Op **** (ACPO initiative designed to
disrupt and detect terrorist funding)Northumbria Police are the
single point of contact for false passport issues within the Department
of Work and Pensions.
The majority of their referrals emanate from asylum
seekers entering the UK, then having done so purchase forged or
counterfeit documents in an effort to falsely claim benefits or
work purporting to be an EU National.
They have encountered only one Algerian national
who travelled to the UK using a counterfeit French passport which
he stated was purchased in France.
Consultation on answering these issues has been made
with, Northumbria Police Special Branch (Op ****) and FIB (Op
****).
John D Scott
Assistant Chief Constable (Crime)
Northumbria Police
9 February 2006
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