Posing as Ukrainian refugees to gain access to the United Kingdom, taking advantage of gaps in border control systems and the wave of solidarity for the ongoing war. This is the new strategy adopted by human traffickers to make entry into Great Britain accessible to migrants. In addition to the now well-known route across the English Channel, a ‘safer’ route has been identified which includes Ireland as the exit door from Europe. A discovery that came following the campaign of the British Home Office, the so-called “Operation Comby”.
At the center of the matter is the Common Travel Area (CTA), which allows British and Irish citizens to travel freely between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the Channel Islands. Precisely this facility is now being exploited by human traffickers as a “safe corridor” for irregular migrants with the help of false documents, including counterfeit Ukrainian passports.
The discovery and the modus operandi
The discovery of this new method came following an operation at Belfast Airport, in which an Iranian national was arrested as he attempted to board a flight to Britain using a fake Ukrainian passport. Immigration agents immediately noticed inconsistencies in the documents presented, in particular the numerous travel stamps cleverly falsified to demonstrate that the man had crossed multiple borders. After a few minutes of interrogation, the man confessed to being Iranian and not Ukrainian.
According to Jonathan Evans, an inspector at the Immigration Criminal and Financial Investigation Unit in Belfast, this situation could be “an easy target” which could lead to trafficking gangs operating in Dublin or elsewhere in Europe. “We are using a targeted approach to raise public awareness and stop these criminal gangs,” the inspector said.
Investigations have revealed that criminal gangs offer complete travel packages at prices ranging between 5 thousand and 8 thousand euros. These include flying from a European city, false documents, transport to Belfast and a ticket to the final destination in the UK. “For traffickers, the real cost is around a thousand euros, which makes this activity extremely profitable,” Evans explained.
“This Government will not stand by as criminal gangs exploit vulnerable people, putting their lives at risk and raising false hopes of a better life in the UK,” said Border Security and Asylum Minister Dame Angela Eagle .
“Moved by greed, these gangs have no respect for human life or safety, demand exorbitant fees, take advantage of those desperate to escape hardship and force them into illegal and dangerous situations. Dismantle the business models of These gangs are not just limited to small boat trafficking: we are also eliminating other routes into the UK to ensure they are punished and dramatically reduce their profits,” she concluded.
The persistent diplomatic dispute
At the beginning of this year, the movement of migrants was mainly in the opposite direction, i.e. from the United Kingdom to Ireland due to the so-called “Rwanda effect”, with the London government threatening to send asylum seekers to the African state. Many migrants had therefore started going to Ireland to avoid deportation and asylum applications in the country had increased dramatically, going from less than 5,000 in 2019 to over 17,500 in 2023.
