UK cops combating alien crime gangs

These prosecutions were highlighted at the first joint UK Border Agency (UKBA) and Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) conference on Monday.  

Almost 300 police officers were assigned to UKBA Immigration Crime Teams across the country working to identify and disrupt organized immigration crime including human trafficking, fraud and forgery.  Since April this year more than a million US dollars have been seized, helping to further disrupt criminal operators.

 Woolas also outlined a greater push toward using immigration laws to target known foreign national criminals who are alleged to be involved in more serious offences including gang and knife crime. 

“When people come to live in the UK they enter into a deal: to work hard and play by the rules to earn their right to stay. Those who choose to commit crimes break that deal and must be removed," he wrote in a report obtained by NACOP.

 “As Al Capone found out, you only need one conviction to bring down a criminal house of cards. Immigration powers can prove the solution to prosecuting and removing foreign criminals from the UK," he stated. 

The UK Border Agency is responding to local community needs as a law enforcement agency. Our frontline staff work collaboratively with police, local authorities and government agencies. We are creating a hostile environment for organized criminals who prey on vulnerable immigrants and taking action against individuals who break the law, according to police officials.

Officers and representatives from UKBA the Police, the Serious Organized Crime Agency and the UK Human Trafficking Agency met in Birmingham to discuss strategic and tactical action to combat criminal activity including hubs for shared intelligence gathering, surveillance techniques and forensic support with key aims of disrupting and removing offenders.

Chief Constable of North Yorkshire Police and ACPO lead for immigration Grahame Maxwell stated: “Immigration is a key concern to the community and the work carried out through the joint UK Border Agency and Police partnerships has sent a clear message to those foreign criminals who think they can flout our immigration laws - if you are committing a crime you will be caught and you will be removed from the UK.

 “By working together we have been able to co-ordinate our efforts to weed out those who cause the most harm in our communities," he added. 

Officials at the conference discussed several cases and initiatives including Operation Oxbridge, undertaken in May 2008 which foiled Britain's biggest ever visa scam, whereby thousands of students gained entry to the UK with fake documents.

Also, a senior university employee and his ex-wife are alleged to have made and sold fraudulent university degree certificates to foreign nationals. Prices ranged between $1000 and $2000. The university employee had a fetish for sadomasochism, and vulnerable females were allegedly encouraged to indulge his needs as part-payment for the certificates.

At the same time, bogus introduction letters were allegedly supplied to individuals to gain student visas to enter the UK by deception. The ex-wife allegedly used her contacts in the local community to find people who wanted to buy the certificates and documents. Spreadsheets containing the names of several hundred foreign nationals were recovered. Both have been charged with conspiracy to commit fraud.

In 2008, nearly 5,400 foreign national prisoners were deported and more than 67,000 people were removed or voluntarily departed.