Half of small British ports are left wide open: People traffickers and drugs smugglers face no ‘visible deterrent’

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Dozens of small ports are unguarded – leaving Britain wide open to illegal migrants.

An official report revealed that nearly half the entry points on the east coast were not visited by Border Force staff for more than a year.

This meant there was no ‘visible deterrent’ to people smugglers or traffickers of drugs and firearms.

David Bolt, who is chief inspector of Borders and Immigration, also found that:

• Criminal gangs are so brazen they offer illegal migrants three chances of entering the UK for the price of one;
• The number of illegals caught near major ports on the east coast nearly doubled;
• Border officials at Harwich in Essex were not checking cars arriving on ferries;
• Funding for the Border Force is being cut despite ‘vast and increasing’ numbers of people and goods arriving in the UK;
• Staff use Victorian ink technology to take fingerprints from migrants instead of modern scanners.

Hundreds of migrants are rescued by a ship. A report, released today, found that Britain's smaller eastern ports were not  visited by border officers for over a year leaving it susceptible to people smuggling gangs

The report is the latest to warn of the gaping hole in Britain’s borders at smaller ports. The UK terror watchdog has warned this could give terrorists or foreign fighters an easy route in.

It revealed 27 out of 62 small ports were not attended by any Border Force staff over 15 months from April 2015 to June 2016. That period coincided with a vast influx of migrants into Europe.

‘There is obviously too much focus on the major ports,’ said Tory MP Philip Hollobone. ‘This is a fairly obvious gap in the system for illegal migrants to make their way into this country.

‘Clearly we need to refocus our border controls on these weak spots.’ 

Alp Mehmet of MigrationWatch called for more funding. ‘The chief inspector has identified significant gaps in the east coast border with particularly poor coverage at smaller ports,’ he said. ‘If these gaps are not plugged, the people smugglers will exploit them to the full, to feed the insatiable appetite of the black economy.’

Mr Bolt suggested the lack of evidence suggesting small ports were being targeted by people smugglers may have been because officials were not there to collect any. He added: ‘The other likely consequence of long periods of non-attendance by Border Force at particular locations is that there is no visible deterrent to anyone prepared to risk using these spots to land illegal migrants or contraband goods.’

Home Secretary Amber Rudd, pictured arriving at No 10 earlier this month, will be alarmed at some of the findings in today's report

Inspectors also examined five major seaports – Tilbury, Harwich, Felixstowe, Immingham, Hull and Rosyth in Scotland. At Harwich there were no searches of vehicles for hidden migrants. Instead officers relied on checks carried out at Dutch ports, but the report said these were insufficient.

Home Office data showed the number of ‘clandestine arrivals’ at or near the major ports almost doubled between 2014/15 and 2015/16 – from 233 to 423.

The report found a lack of checks on freight. On one day at Felixstowe officers searched only one container yet the port receives 7,000 a day. Checks on suspicious shipments were delayed for months.

Despite the loopholes, cuts to Border Force staff will continue over the next three years, the report found. Mr Bolt said: ‘My inspection of Border Force operations at east coast seaports found that, viewed overall, the fixed immigration control points at the major seaports were efficiently and effectively managed, as were vehicle and freight arrivals at these ports.

‘By contrast, coverage of smaller, normally unmanned, east coast ports and landing places was poor.’

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘We are pleased this report acknowledges that Border Force operations at major seaports are generally efficient and effective.

‘However, we accept that improvements can be made and will be taking forward the recommendations.’

Romanian kicked out for serious fraud got back into Britain 13 times

By Andrew Levy

Gabriel Dragut, 28, was kicked out of the country five years ago after serving time for a fraud carried out at cash machines

A Romanian criminal was able to travel into Britain 13 times despite being deported for a serious criminal offence, a court has heard.

Gabriel Dragut, 28, was kicked out of the country five years ago after serving time for a fraud carried out at cash machines.

But he was allowed to come and go at will in Britain – and was even convicted here for another offence – until he was arrested for stealing an 81-year-old woman’s purse in a supermarket car park.

The security failure raises serious questions about Border Force agents who failed to pick him up.

Dragut, who was living in Colchester, Essex, was jailed for ten months yesterday for his latest offence after admitting theft.

Peter Spary, defending, told the judge his client had been handed a one-way ticket back to Romania by the Home Office when he was deported in 2012 but was not asked to sign anything. ‘He didn’t know he wasn’t allowed to come back. He came back to the UK regularly and there were no problems at the borders,’ he said.

Dragut was seized by security guards at a Sainsbury’s in Ipswich on May 9 after he and an accomplice were spotted on CCTV operating a distraction theft on the elderly victim.

She was putting her shopping in her car when he asked her for directions to the nearest hospital while the other man took her purse from her handbag. The other suspect was never caught.

Michael Crimp, prosecuting, told Ipswich Crown Court that Dragut was jailed for two years in May 2012 at Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough for using card-skimming equipment at cash machines. He served only four months before he was sent back to his home country on September 11 that year.

‘Records suggest that since the deportation he has returned to the UK 13 times and Border Force can’t say why that was allowed to happen,’ Mr Crimp said.

Dragut was allowed to come and go at will in Britain – and was even convicted here for another offence – until he was arrested for stealing a woman’s purse in a supermarket car park

He added that the defendant was convicted last November of having articles for use in fraud, again in connection with card-skimming devices. It was not clear last night what sentence he received on that occasion.

In a statement, his latest victim said her confidence had been ‘shattered’ and she was now nervous about going shopping.

Dragut, whose wife had been working at a hotel in Colchester, lost his job in a factory shortly before the theft.

Sentencing him, Judge Rupert Overbury said: ‘This was a particularly mean and unpleasant offence where you deliberately targeted an elderly woman.’

The offence was ‘aggravated’ by the fact he had returned to the UK to commit more crimes.

Last night the Home Office failed to explain how it was possible for someone with a criminal record to avoid being caught while entering the UK on so many occasions. 

A spokesman said: ‘Anyone subject to a deportation order is placed on a watchlist and banned from re-entering the UK.’