UK Border Force Customs Agents on the Front Lines | Border Patrol

every year over a hundred million people go through passport control to get into britain most are welcome and legal many are not for the first time on television we go behind the scenes of the UK Border Agency the men and women on the frontline of immigration tonight dreadful working conditions in middle England in alaric the passenger of Heathrow with a belly full of trouble there is something in his bowel and panic on the streets of London [Music] the United Kingdom has a population of over 60 million [Music] despite the border controls at Britain's entry points is estimated there are up to 1 million illegal immigrants living and working in the country it's the job of the enforcement teams to find these people one of their latest methods is to go out on the streets and stop anyone they think look suspicious sir immigration led Street operation at North Greenwich station basically looking at the public and anyone reacting to our presence and thus will be stopping them and asking them their immigration status today immigration officer Vicki Lacy in our team by hitting North Greenwich tube station where they will stop and investigate anyone they suspect of committing immigration offenses the whole idea of having a restrained immigration officers on the street is still very new and I don't think the majority of the public are aware of our role on what we are doing hello sir I'm from the UK Border Agency can you tell me what country you come from what did you say your wife's name was are you lawfully in the country are you lawfully present in this country what mission have you eaten [Music] how did you go even after me of course you were matter too long will you use my imagination - where's your wife from from from special worth now can you just talk with my father for us [Applause] suspicions depend on you you kinda boys you do not to say anything my own you do not mention when questioned something like a plodding cool anything you do say may be given in talking about rights tell me why you ran so why did you run you catch your bus you go yeah now okay shuffle back and lean against the wall the going is getting very aggressive strands in my face if I didn't do something then you could have ended up hitting me officer lacy is with the man who tried to stop the arrest do you know that guy you don't know him alright ok next time you see someone having a little altercation you don't if you don't know that the reasons behind it don't get involved ok we'll let him go now take his details I send it off to the local police station we obviously create a lot of interest from the public some people giving us a round of applause other people so it was morally wrong that we're here to do a job so we do hold it out to do officers question the suspected illegal immigrant that tried to escape once you to establish show us who you are keep on the generations [Music] ya got keys it just well I'm just gonna put you in here ya fun let Dane see front seat left-hand side if he was running from the police the police would do the same thing we have we have to do the same thing now questioning him again to find out is identity in this status don't always always got so he's got night you married a French girl alright well first of all what I'm gonna do is find out whether that story is correct cheer all right and then we'll take it from there this guy tried to run away from the scene so we want to just check his details the gentleman was given five years to remain in the country because he was married to a French national but then we think that that has now expired he's au residency expiry 25th of October 2005 for that application extended the condition but he expired as the man should no longer be in the UK the date has been set for his return to Nigeria he has since appealed against this and his case is yet to be heard coming up third world conditions in Worcestershire they're working in conditions that you wouldn't want to keep animals in really the passenger at Heathrow whose story doesn't add up abscess Oh your bike belonging to you and back on the streets with the enforcement take that though he's that all right coming wheeler [Music] Heathrow is the world's busiest International Airport the immigration teams often give an advance warning of travelers who may have something to hide chief immigration officer Matt Dyson has just received some intelligence about a passenger expected from Miami his put officer leads early on the case the record show he has been issued two British passports in the last seven years in this identity yep but I could you make in national submitting the same photographs would be the same person yeah was landed as a visitor in a different identity in 2001 alright then okay yeah it's about information okay the Miami flight has landed an officer Lee takes up position ready to stop the Jamaican man with a suspected fake yes sir hello so how are you today it's the passenger she's been waiting for where'd you live in the UK sir okay so just let's have a quick look at your passport I love you okay won't take a minute all right no did she it's not your lucky travel then is it officer Lee plays it cool he doesn't want the man to think this is anything more than a routine check you've been there on holiday dad first Barbados you've had a long journey then haven't you the passengers trip to London via Trinidad Barbados on Miami has taken nearly three days okay so what I'd ask you to do please just for a moment can you just take a seat down there for me please and we'll be back with you as soon as possible all right there is you tomorrow it's just soda okay I don't want him unattended after that we're just gonna go down and have a look through your bags all right if he's obtained British passports fraudulently Sochi quite serious not sure that's a prosecution matter we may just look to refuse and remove because that might be the most sensible option but again we can't make a call on that until we find out what's going on his route to London is one often used by drug traffickers it makes chief Dyson suspect there may be more to this case than just a fake passport I'm also a bit concerned he might be involved in other activities and a good check in customs would give us a bit of a pointer on that one a good check start of his luggage do you have a ticket because of the serious nature of this investigation they've brought in a customs officer to conduct the search [Music] finally the customs officer finds something the passenger is carrying too much booze you are one to offer your allowance but because you've been delayed here suggestion people okay y'all come follow me back upstairs sir nothing found in the bags they've swapped them nothing no evidence of carrying drugs or having had them in his bags recently the passengers bags may be clear for there is still the matter of his passport what we need to do is just check the background of your passport what the problem is we just need to check into the background of your passport that's always I explained to you just general inquiries all right again officer Lee is careful not to arouse his suspicions that this is anything more than routine she goes to see her boss for an update I've spoken to prosecution unit they want to prosecute okay so we need to keep our input they're gonna want a teachers recorded file making up yeah and then they're gonna game arrested okay so they're gonna arrange for some the man will be arrested for having a false passport but officer Lee doesn't want to tell him just yet what's gonna happen now is I need to take your fingerprints okay all right sooner we get it done the quicker we can get on next officer Lee will take the investigation further a medical check okay so can you follow me because we just need to get you looked at by our doctor because we're holding you up we need to make sure you're fit and healthy he's gonna have to go to the port medical inspector for an x-ray to check that he hasn't swallowed anything customs didn't have enough grounds to do an intimate search or an x-ray because we're detaining him we have to make sure he's medically fit so we do have the authority to take an x-ray thank you [Music] p.m. I have just x-rayed him there is something in his bowel it looks like the Jamaican will be here for some time 7 a.m. deep in rural England an enforcement team have received intelligence that there may be illegal immigrants working at a spring onion farm apparently they're up to 1520 nationals all kind of different nationalities finally possible Iraqi Indian and Romanians working that we'll just see what's there when we when we were over the 18 strong team split up hitting two buildings where the suspected illegals are working it's not what you don't even put everything down please just turn from immigration we've come just to need to do a few checks there's anyone speak English morning people gonna need you all to stop what you're doing at the moment because we need to speak to you regarding your immigration status and what he got any ID with them ID driving license bank cards no question this is a warrant that allow us to come in to your property yeah okay I speak to your employees yeah okay that's for you how did you enter the UK in Alaric it's your sisters how long have you been in the UK arrived here five years ago 130 pounds she received blasphemy can you give us that you need them come got it working six days a week they are being paid hundred thirty five town for 14-hour week which I reckon top of my it could be wrong as about 375 an hour which is obviously a couple of pounds below the national minimum wage this is no straightforward matter the workers are not being employed directly by the farmer but through an agency they're claiming that they work for a company that's an employment agency and there's wage slips to prove so obviously there is a lot going on guys - gang masters and forced labour and things like that that they're being quite quite about where they live saying that the people in the line let's pick them up in the morning bring them to work so they're probably dangerous and awful life anything but they will work for their accommodation so somebody's basically forcing them to work a horrible coming out to a job like this where you see that they're working long hours for little money in conditions that you wouldn't want to keep animals in really but the conditions are relatively cause mud underfoot and pretty horrible outside they have to work in this unheated room which is leaky roof useless yeah we're poor back home and that's why you sold our house they're not criminals they're here because they wanted to better themselves they want to better their lives we understand why they do it if I was put in the situation we're out to feed my kids and I would do exactly the same thing although employment regulations are being broken the enforcement team's job is to identify it and remove illegal workers we believe that you're illegally present in the country so now resting your suspicions eventually likely I understand like I did someone a nice lady have both been arrested on suspicion of and she without leave the sentence told us that he's entered on the back of a lorry four or five years ago and decided the same same story through an agent Bobby Jones in d13 250-watt database the couple are in fact overstays but they have passports valid passports have their home address so the process will do now as we've asked if we can go back to the home address to find their passports they happy with that so we're going to return them to their home address now take them back there find the passport basically they've both arrived on visit visas which were valid for six months in 2007 and they've overstayed since then of the 20 people working here 17 were found to be illegal immigrants most have been temporarily released while papers needed to remove them are prepared and others have absconded their whereabouts unknown only to four so far being removed from Britain the agency that supplied the illegal workers was fined eighty five thousand pounds in London the enforcement team led by officer Shane Healy prepare for another Street operation we're going to Stratford station once we deploy you're on the scene the spots will observe their passengers embarking and disembarking and any individuals who join themselves to the attention of officers by acting for example nervously or acting in an order in appropriate manner will be approached by the officers in question regarding the immigration status okay then if we go to business now enforcement teams have been running street operations into 2006 [Music] the London team carrier up to three each week it's the morning rush hour each day almost a hundred thousand people pass through the transport links here at Stratford in East London as commuters rub shoulders with each other there are some who hide the secret from the authorities and have no legal right to be here today's enforcement team has the difficult task of finding a between here who will interview people between sales for attention and determine their status if there are Northey present their be arrested and are the taken to immigration detention or to a local police station for further interview these top of operations we don't go away with an empty van if you like you know there's always some always always somebody you'd be surprised number people that we do come across and these two operations two members of the team act as spotters watching the grounds officers have the legal right to stop and question anyone reacting nervously to their presence hello the Immigration Service yes yes how you do how you doing you're right from the Home Office yeah and required distance he's noticed us and he's shuffled to the left to shuffle to the right so if they left I've shot to the left each up to the right looked at my warrant card look from the Home Office immigration are somewhere here show me cities from Pakistan I asked him if he's got a visa buzzer all right commonweal it as the man has admitted he has no UK visa his question further by arresting officer Littleton in this country above the cabochon green straight babish all right are you going to work yeah all right okay you got any ID on you identification have you got a visa between the UK but I kind of talked to you over there then please yeah many of the people stopped can only speak broken English but some officers are able to interpret with the man having confessed to living and work illegally in the UK the team have their first arrest and another suspect to question he's now being questioned in Hindi posess speaks Hindi and some my colleague here who speaks Hindi is taken over the questioning at this point to establish exactly how he came in and when so we can work out with where we go from here he's admitted that he came into the UK a year ago came from Belgium in the back of a lorry he played an agent some 3,500 euros he's here illegally you're under arrest okay I'm arresting you on suspicion of being a legal intern in United Kingdom okay you understand that you do not have to say anything but it may harm your defense if you don't mention when questioned something you later rely on in court anything you say may be given in evidence okay you understand that John take your bag off yeah okay what have you got in your pockets anything that releases identity the nationality and in my indicate wearing there if I basically authentication so that's your friends bill that's not you your friends gone back to India okay why have you got this why do you have this why have you got this I am bill you got a pipe for it yeah and there's more incriminating evidence yeah you shouldn't have this you have someone else's bank card he's my friend I even got my pen holder he's got a bank card in there which is in a different name to what he's given us he's stating that it's his friends but shouldn't be walking the street with somebody else's bank card in his property okay okay all right come on mate yeah don't let him know we're coming up with two arrests in the first hour it looks like it will be a busy morning for the info coming up the man who can't remember his own birthday covered our today you get with the past the Jamaican is introduced to the drug toilet she's found to be smuggling trucks and it's a whole new ballgame he'll enter a kind of a different area prosecution and the Canadian who's never met his girlfriend thank you bye-bye [Music] [Music] Heathrow has seen its fair share of croc smugglers over the years and even while airport detection systems around the world are improving there are still those who like to try their luck this man came into Heathrow on a suspected false passed point but the immigration officers had a hunch that he was a drug trafficker an x-ray taken at the airport reveals the man has suspicious packages in his stomach the doctor is 99% sure that the objects in the passengers lower intestine are foreign objects so the officers from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs are gonna go and speak to him now mr. Martin would you come out please the doctor feels that there are foreign objects in your body system we have no alternative and I'm arresting you on suspicion I've been involved in the importation of that control we must caution you you do not have to see anything but if you fail to mention when questioned something that you later along because this is not a unique occurrence here at Heathrow customs have installed a special drugs toilet that will collect the evidence once we've identified smugglers with packages of drugs concealed internally we escort them to facilities like this they sit on the the toilet area up there they pass the packages through and will switch the water on and we will generally clean the packages like that we put the packages in the jar and then these are secured away as evidence he's found to be smuggling drugs and it's a whole new ballgame you'll enter a kind of a different area prosecution and that will will take the lead particular if you swallow down because there's a health risk there so he'll be observed by customs and during the course of the day after two sittings ninety six packets of cocaine were recovered I would imagine there was a sense of relief though because he knew he'd been found out he knew there was no escape and he probably just thought I want to get rid of what's in there because who knows what could have happened to him if one of them had burst or something if just one of the pack is a burst it would have been enough to kill him the man pleaded guilty to drug smuggling and traveling on a false passport he was sentenced to six and a half years in prison after which he will be deported back to Jamaica at Stratford station in East London immigration officers Williams and Healy are questioning a Nigerian man just going to work now the man first told them he had a work visa but now claims he has indefinite leave to stay in Britain was the visa for do you remember Kokomo gusta yeah the Ordway looking to visa see if you're telling the truth yeah you'd know you'd know the answer to that there's different sorts of visas and you know what you applied for it must be quite a big occasion you come into the UK so you know what fees are you applied for so you obviously didn't did you I don't know if you want to start thinking again about what you've told us because at the moment nothing too making any sense is it do you think your story sounds good do you think your story sounds credible it's up to you to prove to me that you're legally in the UK I don't have to prove anything you have to prove to me that you're legally here well exactly you walk about with no identification on you whatsoever you tell me you've got a work reason and you change it indefinitely the officers are not getting any straight answers so they try to track the man down on the immigration database but for this they need a date of birth there's 1984 this thing isn't days as well sure in months let's get to Kopitar today you get with the cards I'm a lot older than you and I can still remember my date of birth like that with a mic start to get different no we have no trace literacies it means a nobody with that name and that day of birth has got indefinitely that's what it means so do you want to change what you're saying now well what I want you to do is tell the truth because if you had indefinite leave you'd be on our system when you so why don't you give me a real details then we can make a decision on what's going to happen next right little name move that birth and the moment you give them no options to I you are going to be arrested you carry on some people are using so many identities that they do trip themselves up and they get confused and don't remember who they're supposed to be today and you know if you're going to use different identities then I suppose you are going to get slightly confused now and again realizing he's being caught out the Nigerian finally explains his reasons for being in Britain this is the reason I accompanies buttons and I can't look flip deliverable and you I was died yeah why don't we go back yeah because when I finish plate they just leaves me so I was here in Detroit - oh that sounds on its when did you fire Expo when were you supposed to go back so this is one piece I love the book six months yeah he appears to overstate he certainly has the basis from what we can see it we will take him to an immigration holding center and deal with him from there seven years ago this man came to Britain to play volleyball on a six-month sports visa the life he has made for himself in this country will soon be over he has agreed to a voluntary departure date back to Nigeria what you have is he going where you the team made a total of seven arrests during the street operation at Stratford six men were given temporary release but all have failed to show up at a Reporting Center they are listed as absconders on the police national computer at Terminal 3 a flight from Chicago has arrived a passenger who claims to be a doctor has been stopped by immigration officer Bridget Hall the man was born in Africa and has been living in the US for the last ten years his lives in the States he's got a green card he was a permanent resident there he wants to transit through the UK to get his flight get we should be leaving in about five hours or so back to Sierra Leone nationals from Sierra Leone must have a visit or transit visa to pass through Heathrow the passengers applied for both and being refused all of this requires further investigation he's turned up today with no visa two refusals behind him and a flight that's leaving this afternoon and he wants to try and get on that officer hole needs to be sure the passenger won't stay on in Britain if she grants him access to catch its connecting flight I've seen the ticket so I do know he's got an onward flight but that doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna go on it quite often they'll get an onward flight and it's a smaller outlay for them gaining entry into the UK so before she issues a visa she must be satisfied his story rings true it's a bit strange that somebody'd want to give up a good life in America so we've got to check his bags now as he is returning permanently he's got about six pieces of luggage saw myself a Nepali gonna go down search through his bags quickly and make sure there's nothing that we should be concerned about thank you straight away the search throws up some surprises Oh thought I'd check that regulates you come across on that one over there cheers mate what's this for sir the potassium tablets what easy tricks what's indomethacin for the metaphor mean lovastatin so if you've got high blood pressure as well good job you talk to them really in it one of the reasons you will refuse your visas were you are unable to prove that you have this job that you are a working doctor so I need to see some evidence to show me that well you know yeah and now there's more to arouse the officer suspicion news Jonathan for was a lot of stuff is not enough there was his going back to Sierra Leone to live but yeah it's not got anything off his own there absolutely all your bikes I've done it myself it's now making more sense why it was possibly refused his visa on both occasions I now have to look at things in a different way I'm not sure whether he's going to be getting on his flight because of the unusual contents found in the man's bags officer holds a lot of questions to put to him did you apply for a visa to transit through the UK yes would I have liked for the wrong transit visa is a visit visit visit in transit visa which they denied if you were denied your visa why did you still decide to travel here I thought so Teddy bridges embassy consulate in New York you said that as long as I have a permanent resident card connected right meeting to four hours mm-hmm ideally not a problem but the fact that you had these refusals kind of changes everything you had Sierra Leone passports belonging to other people why is this well is about brothers and sisters they have not been to their countries from some of them for over thirty years so there were give me their passports to renew to renew their passports do you have any evidence that you are still a registered doctor because the paperwork that I saw in your baggage search was all very old I am NOT a registered doctor in saloon because I have just Conya after 10 years of absence due to the Civil War how's the end of our interview you just want to sign here for me after the interview officer Hall Pass is on her concerns to chief officer Dyson he's got prescription pad he's on top medication for various ailments he's got a card isn't he supposed to be a doctor he said he's a doctor he's not registered anymore he's a nursing aide like an auxilary nurse hence he couldn't show the visa officer there he was a doctor exactly what he told me and that's what he led me to believe when my first book to him that year I'm a doctor I'm registered I don't think you need to come back to me this was his refusal I think we agreed on this he may well be going on just here early on but I'm not taking our chance yeah too many variables in this so if you're yeah yeah thank you states ASAP yep the passenger arrived at Heathrow without the UK transit visa his luggage around suspicion and he lied about his job officer Hall can't trust him to catch his flight on to Sierra Leone there is nothing new in front of me today that would let me consider reviewing their decision to deny you a visa to come to the UK in order to transcend you should be refused entry in which case we'll have to put you on a plane back to Chicago I'm gonna go back to the holding room now you'll be escorted down to the flight if the man wishes to travel to Sierra Leone he will have to get the correct documents or take a route that doesn't pass through Britain coming up officer Hall takes on what looks like a straightforward case um how do you know your girlfriend but his girlfriend is hiding the secret thank you bye-bye [Music] at Heathrow immigration officer Hall has another case she has stopped a 19 year old Canadian who's also an online gaming fan he's coming here for four months to visit his girlfriend who's a British national by his own admission he's got very limited funds 900 pounds for months he doesn't have a credit card to back it up mr. ciccone hello my name is Bridget I'm going to be dealing with your case today 900 pounds four months okay even if you're staying at a friend's house you do we all live in the UK we know how expensive it can be anything could happen that could be a mute could need emergency treatment who knows you know that that 900 pounds isn't gonna go very far is anyone meeting you today sir we just look here for me now your girlfriend's name Kyra Mae is that Kyra Mays her first name amaze her surname love her family name okay well I must go through to the interview room some of the questions may be quite probing and what types say you were told but I have to get a really clear answer so how do you know your girlfriend remembers this we're talking online we're not talking face-to-face at that point okay have you ever met a girlfriend in person hmm no today officer Hall is concerned that if things go well for the Canadian and his girlfriend he may be tempted to stay on in the UK perhaps a call to his girlfriend will set things straight hello can I speak to hear ma please you were expecting him today are you okay can I just ask how do you know him how long ago so you'd say that you've known blend for total of four or five weeks yeah no no longer than that because he actually told me he'd met you a year ago well obviously we're not sure whether we're gonna allow him into the UK at this moment in time I'm gonna have to go back to him and just you know obviously put that discrepancy to him is there are you going to be contacted on this number again because I think he may want to speak to you okay well thank you for your time thank you bye-bye it's a man it's a man yeah that was a man I said can I speak to kiri yeah that's me then there she's got a really sore throat that's a man as officer Hall now knows the passengers internet girlfriend is male and the two have never met she must tread carefully if the news is not to come as a shock have you spoken to your sponsor on the phone at all it's always been online it's gonna sound like a mad question bear with me okay what six is your sponsor yeah okay well you said you said girlfriends oh yes you can save me lots of times we don't have a problem with people having boyfriends at all so I was concerned then I thought you didn't know okay all right now we have a little problem your sponsor told me you had only met for five weeks ago well online he said online that they met yeah so you're saying as a relationship yes but officer Hall is still concerned about the man's limited funds for the passenger claims he'll get help from its girlfriend's mother I have to be sure again that he's gonna leave when he says he will and without speaking to the sponsors mom and knowing that she's happy for him to be here she's happy to support them financially you know it's all secondhand information oh hello hi how do you know Glenn please the amount of money he has available to him which is rather limited given the time he wants to stay I'm just wondering I mean if it came to it would you be in a position where you would be able to support him financially right can I just mother is willingness to help the passenger financially could be enough to convince officer Hall to grant entry but first she must run it by her boss okay bye I need to speak to you man that was the mum sponsors not sponsors mum she's known about this all along she's more than happy to support him whilst he's here I want well I want to land him I do initially no you know what I thought it was a review but I've spoken to everybody involved now I cannot in good faith refuse this man when I think that I tend to agree with him and I think he will go on ok brilliant thank you but now I have the happy task of letting my passenger out on his holiday I'm going to allow you in for your holiday he only provides up ears I have landed you so I've put a stamp in your passport until the date of your return ticket so you have to leave on or before this date [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: DangerTV

Views: 1,403,407

Keywords: customs, Border, Border agents, UK, United Kingdom, Airports, London, Heathrow, Gatwick, smugglers, smuggling, Illegal, Immigrants, Illegal Immigrants, Weapons, Guns, Fraud, Contraband, Danger, Extreme, customs uk, illegal immigrants, united kingdom, drug sniffing dogs, illegals, border force, border security force, border patrol, nothing to declare, immigration, border security, uk border force, customs agents, locked up abroad, police, airport patrol, england, caught smuggling, documentary, uk, cop

Id: -tyitbJ4c1A

Length: 44min 10sec (2650 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 03 2019