LONDON, July 26: New technology is being used to strengthen UK government's ability to stop fraud and forgery and check people in and out of the country. According to a Home Office press release issued on Thursday this has already resulted in the details of 20 million passenger movements in and out of the UK being checked in 2006, resulting in 12,000 individuals being flagged for further checks and 1,000 arrests for a whole series of offences. And Home Secretary Jacqui Smith saw these stringent immigration checks in action on Thursday during her first visit to Heathrow airport since her appointment.
On Wednesday the prime minister announced the introduction of a unified, uniformed, visible border force with greater powers providing a single primary checkpoint for both passport control and customs, strengthening the border through greater flexibility, joint targeting and use of intelligence.
Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said: “Maintaining and strengthening the security of Britain's borders is one of my key priorities. I am determined to improve public confidence in how this is managed and delivered.”
Passengers coming through UK ports this summer will now see a more visible presence with new signage identifying the border, and greater levels of Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) staff, soon to be in uniform, concentrated at the country's busiest airports to ensure that delays are kept to a minimum. Three hundred more border control staff have come on stream this year alone helping ensure Britain's borders are secure and passengers move through border control quickly and securely.
These visible changes are backed-up by new technology which gives immigration staff the ability to scan biometric data in new e-passports, allowing them to be more confident about the identity of people entering the UK, while allowing fraud and forgery checks to be undertaken quickly and securely.
Last year Border and Immigration Agency (BIA) staff prevented 17,000 people crossing the channel illegally. At juxtaposed controls in France and Belgium the BIA caught 3,900 people trying to enter Britain through clandestine means.
The BIA border immigration exhibition at Heathrow comprises portable Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS) enrolment, fingerprinting and passport scanning technology and a short film demonstrating borders and enforcement activity.