UK Border Force - Season 1, Episode 7: How Far Would You Go for Your Family?

every year over a hundred million people go through passport control to get into britain most of welcome 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 front line of immigration tonight hidden the human cargo in Calais are you Olli rocki rocki enforcement raids in Somerset and it's all too much for a passenger held at Heathrow my life is right dear in your hands that's on me right dear that's right but yet still unlocked Ont like a prisoner [Music] more than a million passengers every month arrived at Heathrow Terminal three many from some of the world's poorest countries lisa lee has been an immigration officer two years it's her job to make sure each passenger has a valid reason to enter britain today she stopped a woman from south africa traveling on a visit visa the woman also has an out of date letter it's for a beauty training course called Steiner Steiner or a well known training organization that do Beauty training for employees of cruise ships I think what I'm gonna do I'm gonna ring Steiner before I do anything else because if they can confirm she's coming on a training course then may not be more than just a quick chat with her we have a passenger arrived today and from South Africa she's presented to Steiner letters from last year and she claims to be coming on a training course starting shortly I just wondered if you were able to tell us if she's registered you're not expecting her okay they don't have any record of her on the training course the passengers reason for coming to Britain is thrown into doubt officer Li wants to knows what she's carrying in her bags tells another story you told the officer when you arrived that you were coming for a training course do you have a definite place on a course a training course in the UK do you have a place on a training course in the UK yes or no so why did you tell the officer that you had a place on a training course when you don't she appears have very little cash in fact no money at all to speak of and she's brought with her CVS which you don't really bring on holiday and all her beauty training certificates which I guess you could say could be legitimately there if she's planning to enroll on a training course or hoping to embark on another cruise ship but other than that she's got no real reason why she would have our CVS with her I'm just concerned that she may have worked here previously and she may be intending to work in the UK what is the purpose of your visit me joining the ship mm-hmm yeah okay I spoke to the agency and they're not expecting you why didn't you arrange your place on the training course before you came I don't know it just ah okay you know just the leg where I come from the place where I lived I have a lot of friends in London mm-hmm yeah and I wanted to leave Cape Town like where I'm from because I do know what I spend any more money and obviously because I was gonna be the one who buys my aunty kids right and because of the shipping the only bread you know and me helping out my brother to go to college so the only way you are money is on the ships yeah okay I'm just thinking you know it seems like a long way to come if you haven't got a place on the course already sorted would you why didn't you do it before you came would have been easier wouldn't it you could have got a letter from her on everything a major life a lot easier is there a problem back home I'm the only person is looking out for me you're the only one that has any money and the support you're so you supporting the whole family on your salaries yeah okay before officer Li allows the woman through passport control she must consult her boss chief immigration officer Matt Dyson I can sympathize with anybody who feels you know they gotta work hard for their family and have to leave their own country to do it fine but in the end she falls well short of the requirements for entry as far as I'm concerned she's basically not to tell the truth on arrival she doesn't have enough funds there's a flight this evening and if we want to remove it today via Doha well as it stands unless we hear anything from I'm sorry but okay thanks anyway guys this is particularly tough because I've been to where she lives I know the township she comes from and it's pretty horrible most places don't have electricity you know it's rough so the money this girl is on when she's on board ship he's a lot of money in South Africa so she would be supporting her mom and brother and you in a way you're kind of robbing her of the chance to provide for a family and it just you just think I'm sending her back [Music] I'm afraid it's not very good news okay you are going to be refused entry to the UK today alright she just doesn't qualify today for entry if she can satisfy either an entry clearance officer in the future or another immigration officer in the future that she qualifies for entry on another day then her case will be viewed on its merits it doesn't automatically exclude it from coming back to the UK in the future coming up unlucky for some at the bingo hall I'm arresting you now on suspicion of being an over stay in the United Kingdom but it's a full house for the team in Calais for 28 for 30 let's go it it's estimated there are up to 1 million people living illegally in the UK many come into the country on a tourist visa to find a way to stay on and work illegally one problem for the Immigration Service is the number of Brazilians who use fake Portuguese on ID cards in Yeovil Somerset an enforcement team led by PC Phil arting store has been given a tip-off the Brazilian illegal immigrants are working in a bingo holding information has been received to the effect that there are several Brazilian nationals working at the bingo hall in Yeovil these persons are all believed to be using counterfeit Portuguese documents to obtain employment the intention is to enter and search the premises and detain all staff members for immigration checks being Portuguese speakers Brazilians with fake ID can convince an employer they belong to the European Union and have the right to work we believe that the the Brazilian staff are being used as catering workers and working on the kiosks in the in the actual bingo hall itself there's somebody check there please hi you just stay there for me please okay the manager of Bates police and immigration we have a warrant here to enter and search these premises and speak to your staff because we have reason to believe that some of the staff that working here are illegally in the country with such a large building to search the team split up to make sure no workers amidst we just want to make sure there's no one hiding basically you never know what you're gonna find that's the thing you never know how you know how big something is and where someone could be hiding okay you want to take your seat please sir thank you and the manager has produced documentation to us in relation to members of staff that he employs tonight we're just checking them to make sure there's no anomalies with the documents and their possible counterfeits immigration officer Ronnie Watson discovered this woman's family is from Brazil her mother's Brazilian so what watching our nationality do you have Portuguese nationality thank you he checks the woman's details against the home off his database okay so there's nothing nothing to say that she's actually got bought their Portuguese nationality basically all we've got on home office systems is that she's Brazilian national and she had a six-month visit visa and so I'm just gonna go and ask her a few more questions to see why she's still here have you got a Portuguese passport you haven't got a Portuguese passport just in Portuguese ID card the young lady that sat there is produced to the employer a Portuguese ID card and which is on her employment file we've run some checks on our system she comes back as somebody of the same name the same date of birth having entered the UK as a visitor on a Brazilian Passport she's denying this and she's stating that she's actually Portuguese and she entered on her portuguese ID card okay miss Peyser we've got conflicting stories here okay to that end I'm arresting you now on suspicion of being an over stay in the United Kingdom you don't have to say anything but it may harm your defense if you do not mention when questioned something you later rely on in court anything you do say may be given in evidence should she not be a Portuguese national she is actually Brazilian then she'll be taken to the police station and will wear make arrangements to remove her from the country first the team want to search for the woman's fake ID and crucially her genuine passport if their records are correct it would proves his Brazilian and overstayed her visa you're just like to take a seat for a moment whereabouts is your room your ID card you don't have it and you don't have your passport okay have you got anything at all to prove that you do of Portuguese nothing at all no fill spot receiving yeah lady claims not to have yeah or received them if you ever look in the obvious places then they received the team is a lot to search through the bingo hall worker seems to have accumulated a lot of stuff during her time here now she decides to help out you find one green it's dawning on earth that she's in trouble and that we're not gonna accept the fact that she's Portuguese so she's trying to come up with little snippets of information and then hopefully she'll eventually divulge to us where her Brazilian passport is Giovanni of what we don't want to have to do is keep you in custody for longer than we have to just relax sometimes the the thought of us going through people's own personal things tend to make them show us where these things will be but obviously that's not going to work in this case okay but it's Brazilian passport yeah the team did not find the woman's passport but in a formal interview she admitted to being Brazilian and an illegal worker after two days in detention she was sent back to Brazil [Music] Caillat is the bottleneck of Europe truck from the continent and beyond Hugh here to come into Britain one and a half million of them every year it's an ideal opportunity for those who want to smuggle their way to the UK there are over 400 British immigration officers working in this corner of France just starting his night shift is officer John Cassidy so in the port of Calais at the entrance the passport boats here are where the French eggless control zone begins so from here we have jurisdiction until it gets down onto the boat by the berths here so as the lorries approach here they show their past bumps that they're both where every check to make sure they later travel on we were then select vehicles to be searched for in exchange this selection process is known as spotting after two years at Calais officer Cassidy knows what to look for but we have certain be because we like to look out for if they don't have been secured find out had been sleeping in the port area outside which is where most illegal to try to enter the vehicle so the job here is just a traffic management and make sure that the right vehicles get selected for searching in 2007 the immigration officers stopped nearly 12,000 people trying to cross the channel hidden in lorries that's more than 30 everyday chief immigration officer kerrie locky is prepared for a busy night the optimum time that we have fines are between two o'clock in the morning and 8 o'clock in the morning purely and simply because that's when the lorry drivers are sleeping so it is usually without their knowledge illegals managed to get into the vehicles the officers favorite tool is the co2 probe it detects the breathing of anyone hiding in the trunk now it looks good no it's clear its feinex me yeah we play with that a little less high-tech but equally effective the nose well the bonfire smell that we tend to get when we open them up is because they've been living rough in camps around the area we understand officer they have got the al bonfires and whatnot going to keep themselves warm so that's a distinct smell that we intend to find when we open up the noise sometimes they are lucky enough to wear own shows with reflective strips on them which helps give them all why you put the torture they just flashes up on you [Music] it's nearly home time for the team they've checked more than a hundred trucks during the night but still they haven't found any illegal entrance you got something ain't gonna be enough Scottie I'm going straight up though 420 430 let's go eat as you put the probe in the reading started to rise quite dramatically immediately which is usually a good sign it means that someone like been in there for quite a while see how two builds up so it doesn't take long for it to be drawn into the probe go straight up and we get excited in set all the way down the lorries load is industrial drain pipes they look like I go all the way through though or can smell you can smell point that goes all the way along but it's a slight that's one side I think they must have crawled along there and for what we can see where it dips down there's some shoulders and some tops of heads we think four five possibly at the moment one of our colleagues is down there speaking to at the moment it's part of work all the way down this for just hidden at 10 15 foot down on the further side you're gonna have to do now is take the curtain off at the side get a better picture of it just can't really see for me need a bit more light are you Olie rocky play with Rocky no no yeah you sure you keep smiling we were just trying to confirm anybody's actually in here at the moment and their nationalities take some photos in that situation where they are hiding for future reference and then we're trying to get them down safely just unit with Charlie one minute right next step is to match their photographs to the names and the majority of these people do not carry documents at all because they don't really want to be identified with their country and also a lot of them don't actually have documents anyway because of the countries that they come from this what it's all about actually you feel like you've done your job this is what we're here for to try and find its people you know they're trying to get here so you get a positive satisfaction when you do finally get you searching all night long to finally get at least someone know it's been worthwhile that's five more people who haven't been successful on this occasion though know that try again at some stage and hopefully we'll be able to support them again and they won't be successful next time this is what we're here for and if you don't catch them you don't feel like you're doing your job so this is a last one this way to go over the pass now and go yeah good one last night the driver was fined five hundred pounds and the owner of his vehicle a further fifteen hundred [Music] coming up the student who doesn't make the grade either you're not telling me the truth sir or the college isn't and Portuguese or not Portuguese that is the question it's been altered that the detail at Terminal 3 teams of immigration officers work round the clock checking every new arrival officer K Lomas was a teacher before she joined the UK Border Agency she knows when someone's trying to pull the wool over her eyes today she's investigating an Indian national returning to Britain on a student visa now we have your suitcase the rucksack and this these all of your bags before you came to study here you did a three years course in India was that what's BCA best in computer education so you've got a bachelor's degree in computers can work for university MSC no two media communication yes but when I came here they told me that they don't have enough students the passenger was given a student visa a year ago he had a place on a master's degree course at a prestigious Midland University the course was cancelled and he now said he's studying at a college in London even though he lives in Leicester officer Lomas reports are finding so far to the chief immigration officer Sarah Dyson after his bags not found much in there to be honest he's got his national insurance card he's got some business cards for a garment factory that's run by his cousin brother who have established his first cousin he's got no student card for this College in London so he looks like he's had a pretty good education has he well he's just said to me we've done a three year bachelor's computing course in India in India and how long's had been in the UK since 2006 and he's been doing more deeply IT based diplomas which he would not really need had you done a bachelor's in IT I would think it's very difficult for us to believe that he's genuinely studying in East London if you live semester and he's told you he lives in Leicester I mean which of us on this planet would really want to commute 200 miles a day to attend college fair what a couple of hours maybe three hours what student could afford that concentrate officer Lomas caused the passengers cousin she hopes he can confirm his relative is studying in London hello sir are you expecting anyone to arrive in the UK today and how do you know us man you own a factory and what kind of factory is it manufacturing ladieswear so he packs the garments you mentioned that he's also a student what does he do you have no idea what he studies every time he goes to college do you take him every single time yes so you should be able to tell me which days he goes to college then if you take him there mmm when was the last time he went to London to college last Thursday wasn't he in India at that time he he wasn't in UK then was he very vague about when he goes to college has no idea what he does in college at all cut I mean which subject he studies can't tell me the name of the college but he apparently drops him off there every week three times a week but he's very clear on his position in the factory which leads me to believe that measly to doubt the faculty he's a full-time student here because it's just a bit strange to me now that doubts are raised over the passengers Studies officer Lomas makes a second call this time to the college where he claims to be studying could you just confirm the name of the students that you have I want to know all the details about his current course when he started what's he studying when there was the last time he attended college is he studying with you at the moment it should be quite a simple yes-or-no answer to that sir really when was the last time he attended when was the last day that he came to college 15th of November thank you according to the college the student has not attended at all in the last six months and what was his attendance rate for his previous course how can it be 82% if he already missed four weeks right so he's attendance rate for his last class was 82 could you tell me a bit more about your college please st. Paul college who's on the third floor okay and then your college is on the fourth floor and that's it so we're talking four colleges in one building the reason I asked so many questions to him is because what I want to do is go and if this man is a genuine student if he is a full-time student here he should be able to answer basic questions about his tutors about the modules he studied about the building what facilities they've got how much fees he's paid so I'm going to put all these questions to him in the interview if he can answer them all and it he's very confident in in what he says about his studies then that's fine but if there if he can't tell me these things obviously that's something that I need to be worried about [Music] usually diplomas and degrees have modules within them of study what did you do I studied basic programming Microsoft Office and then it got to see programming and see what was the title of the course is called that's what I want to know that ideas yes if the courses that you studied modules it was first it was like subjects to me what is your attendance like what is your attendance rate have you missed any lessons my attendance should be 85 percent no right now then sir have you been telling me the truth during this interview yes well then we've got a problem because I have spoken to your college at length today and they're telling me a very different story than the one that you've just said to me I spoke to mr. Suleiman Khan who tells me he's an admin clerk at your college he tells me that you've not attended the post graduate diploma at all in fact when I asked him when was the last time they saw you he says it was November 2007 when was the last time and I want the month and I preferably want the week when was the last time you studied you attended classes in the United Kingdom thank you what have you been doing you're not eating a half month sir sitting at home I don't believe you you have to I'm not laying this down now I'm concerned that your college did not tell me that you didn't attend from July to November they said your attendance where it was 82 percent what's going on I'm sure you know there are many colleges that supply letters to students I don't know let's say that students have attended college and I accept money so that they produce letters to that effect and diplomas either you're not telling me the truth sir or the college isn't this is caller to genuine college do they have lectures there your attendance will be done did they ever charge you any money sir for the fact that they were fixing your attendance okay what did they charge you for 13 days just to clarify the 500 pounds was so that they said you had attended when you hadn't attended to us realizing his UK residence permit is in danger of being cancelled the student makes an appeal why would I be ruined without the post-graduation anything that's not true as my taste you've told us the truth now about your studies which was the right thing to do but in hindsight he should have been attending shouldn't you you applied to do a master's at de Montford University a good University excellent course and since then things have just gone downhill obviously was very upsetting under the interview there he's been caught out I continue to press him on on the college because I had an inkling that the college wasn't genuine from what he'd said in the end he did admit that they were supplying letters to students I will pass that on to our intelligence unit and they will check that out and that College will then be on a list of colleges that we were looking to further officer Lomas makes her final report to her boss annie has a UK residence permit issued for the purpose of studies okay so new months ago so he was quite happy to deceive the Home Office only a month ago well once again I think without a shadow of a doubt we'll have to refuse this guy entry and cancel his residence permit the passenger is refused entry to Britain and put on the next plane back to India it's not an easy thing to have to be very harsh with somebody like that but on the other hand you feel sorry for the people who are genuinely studying here and then leave like that gentleman that you would come here and just find the rules really to get a residence permit and don't study it's not on it's estimated that up to 5,000 foreign students a year enroll at british colleges with no intention to study in Yeovil the enforcement team continue their search for brazilians posing as portuguese the next stop is a flat above a shop on the high street [Music] just as any life from servicing the problem unfortunately while they're knocking on the front door people seem to be escaping from the back yeah we've got some runners at the top here to attend wait where do they go straight up there liesl immigration open up because we've got one inside but you won't open up come to the front door very much where's your friend there was two of you come here there's one just one on the back stand there do not move okay it's down there Tracy he appeared to go into the back of the shop so if you want to stay here I'll just run down and see you pr2 when I saw him he seemed to go into the rear of the shop you come downstairs please now with me inside the team find two people they think at least three others were here just a few moments ago I need a name you name your nationality date of birth or I need to see ID doc where's your passports okay one passport upstairs do you want to take him out Laura the two men claim to be Portuguese if they are it means they can legally work in the UK as members of the EU but they need to be able to prove it with a passport or ID card well we will look for it we will look for it if you can't find it we'll look yes did you say you yeah is that all you've got you got have you got a passport yes this is what you're looking for is okay come downstairs because the subjects got a Portuguese ID card obviously the intelligence is that they're using counterfeit Portuguese ID cards or obviously looking at all of the safeguards the forgery safeguards that the card has on it to try and establish whether or not indeed the counterfeit I reckon it's probably separate to and yeah because if you look at that there's a lot of dirt and you know I think I think we're safe to say that this gentleman is not a true Portuguese national you know it's been altered that the details have been altered on it it might possibly be a genuine card that's obviously been stolen at some point and they've altered some of the details and possible and put his photo in it could you explain to the gentlemen that I'm going to arrest him as a legal entrant into the UK okay he does not have to say anything to me but anything he does say I will take down and use in evidence okay he will be properly explains the full caution by an interpreter once we get to the police station thank you now under arrest the man admits to the teens that his passport is in his room okay we're going upstairs to get this man's reasoning passed on going on yeah you weren't pointing there Jim we found obviously this man's passport to show that he was refused leave to enter at Brussels in 2008 this shows me that he's been refused leave to enter in the UK we've also found a passport for what would appear to be his girlfriend they traveled on the same date as both being refused leave to and so they've obviously then both gained counterfeit Portuguese ID cards from somewhere and both travelled in on those we found also found her Portuguese ID card say yep I think we can safely say there was at least one other person here that we saw three in total have run from here I mean clearly there's at least four bedrooms and they're all lived in both the Brazilians found in the flat were arrested and detained the ma'am the fake ID card was sent back to Brazil along with his flatmate who had overstayed his 6-month visit visa coming up breaking point at Heathrow it's midday at Heathrow an overnight flight from America landed five hours ago one of the passengers is still at Terminal three he recently became a US citizen before this as a Jamaican he was refused a UK visa due to lack of funds this is why is being investigated by officer mark Washington mr. prom is it Brayan ok to want to come up please stuff I mean as it stands at the moment he's been refused to be there in January so that's not looking great for him but at the same time one of the reasons he was refused as the finance is wearing great so what I'll do is I'll assess to see if anything's changed since he was refused his visit visa this is your family yeah okay do you have a wallet or anything like that if I could just check that did you have any more cash at all how much other stuff you have one hundred dollars okay this is a credit card yeah how much money do you have access to on your credit card officer Washington accepts that $3,000 available on credit is enough to fund the passengers trip but he still wants to find out how the man's circumstances have changed since he was refused a visa okay what job is it that you do in the statements state okay what family does your wife have here yes I'm DS cousins and why hasn't she traveled with you just a job what's the reason for your trip to the UK okay what's your friend's name yeah how did you guys meet throw a friend okay how exactly would you describe your relationship with her just Rick the friends I know it's not cool if it says friends follow me they will put you back in the room then I'll speak to my to formation officer hopefully 10-15 minutes he's saying for a week to stay with a friend he's saying that he's only known her for about since about December time so who's looking after the kids there with his wife she's starting a new job almost this week yeah five kids on the twelve and he's chosen to come on holiday that's Ryan they all live I mean he to a friend that he really doesn't know anything about and maybe visit the wife's family who was the dress he hasn't bothered to bring with doesn't sit that well that was one or two areas we've been quite happy to speak to the wife on right let's ring him up okay I'll go and do that the passengers wife has plenty to be coping with while her husband visits a friend in Britain now officer Washington is to call her in America where it's 6:00 in the morning I've got your husband here and I wonder if I could just ask you a couple of questions about his trip to the UK okay and who is it that he's coming to visit one thing I just wanted to go over he's saying that the friend he's got here in the UK he's saying to me he only met them sort of in about December time but you're saying their childhood friends I mean I don't quite know how that can be the case I mean I mean in terms of the discrepancy okay and sonorous I think that's all I need to ask you madam thank you very much for help and I'm sorry about waking you up I'll go and speak to your husband now anyway thank you very much for helping me okay then bye before officer Washington an update his boss he's called to the holding room where his passenger is far from happy and that's before he knows about the call to his wife understand the Americans and I really happy okay hello sir my papers is what you guys okay so I've explained why you've been locked in the room I have got it sir and I've just spoken to your wife and that's what I need to do I need to go back to my chief immigration yeah I have she said that this is the person you'll be visiting as a lifelong friend okay so that friend lives here in the UK as well okay yeah are you sure you don't want another drink or anything like that okay yeah my life is right dear in your hands that's on me right dear that's right yes - really like a prisoner okay so yeah I tote yeah I totally understand that the decision is gonna be made I'm just gonna go and speak to my chief Andorian officer about it now then once I spoken to him we will make the decision and then it'll be done and dusted you'll either stay here and go back home or you'll come into the country and be landed okay if you just sit down I'll go and do it now and I'll be back as soon as I can do we think there's more to this just a friend I honestly don't know I mean my initial reaction was that maybe there was he said no no we're just friends were just friends nothing more than that all I'm bothered about is he gonna do something that he shouldn't do when he's here and I don't think years is he gonna go back when he says he's gonna go back on our record for me yeah end of story as far as I'm concerned there's been a change of circumstance the newspapers needs to be positioned yeah his wife now has the job that's right finances make more sense it's not up to us to run his family life for him okay don't go now a decision has been reached all that's left is to tell the passenger we're gonna land you so here's your possible back and your ticket if you want to grab your luggage you're free to go the area where we search your bag if you go through there you should meet your friend who should be there waiting for you I'm gonna give her a ring now just to say that you're coming out okay all right no problem

Channel: UK Border Force

Views: 517,865

Keywords: London, Air Control, Maximum Security, Cineflix, Security Guard, Border, TV, Heathrow, Security, UK Border Force, Reality, Police, Border Security Force, Production, Force, Airport, England, Border Security, Reality TV, United Kingdom, Air Traffic Controller, UK, Investigation

Id: RQh3Z72x5hE

Length: 43min 3sec (2583 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 23 2016