Essex has the 'perfect infrastructure' for immigration crime

3 hours ago

Laura Fosterin Southend-on-Sea

News image — A suspect was arrested after being found with cocaine and driving without the correct documents

John Fairhall/BBC Two police officers are ushering a man whose face has been blurred out into a marked police car. In the background is a garden and a brick wall. A reflection in the police car window has also been blurred. — A suspect was arrested after being found with cocaine and driving without the correct documents

I am in the back of an unmarked police car, being driven around Southend by an officer who regularly makes more arrests than anyone else in the force.

PC Paul Simmons is a road traffic officer with the power to stop any vehicle.

Such road policing powers have helped Essex Police and forces across England carry out a two-week "intensification" on organised immigration crime.

With more resources and shared intelligence, they are hoping to find people who move to the UK illegally and are put to work in the gig economy, as well as people who come here to commit crimes.

John Fairhall/BBC A man with a beard is dressed in a black police uniform with two radios and a body camera, and he is wearing a white flat hat. He is standing in front of a car in front of three terrace houses. — PC Paul Simmons says the extra resources mean police can make more arrests

Part of Simmons's role is to look for things that look suspicious, such as a broken rear light or dodgy registration plates.

But he can stop anyone and ask for their licence, insurance and personal details.

He pulls over one vehicle and the driver becomes instantly nervous and starts shaking.

It turns out he does not have the correct driving licence, the car is not insured, and the motorist is carrying 10 deal wraps of cocaine and a small bag of cannabis.

A call to the Home Office confirms he has absconded from immigration bail and is "ready" to be deported from the UK.

And so he is taken away in handcuffs.

Simmons calls it a "perfect example" of why this crackdown is happening.

"Realistically if we weren't here, [he] probably would not have been stopped today.

"It is just due to the increased presence that he has been stopped and arrested."

Essex Police A man wearing a grey T-shirt is standing at the side of the road. His head is blurred for legal reasons. In the background is a police car with its blue lights on. — Police arrested another man and found 1kg of cannabis in his car

The increased presence he is referring to is Operation Lockstream.

Forces across the country were given extra funds to patrol UK roads, rail network and ports for a fortnight.

Simmons tells me they usually patrol like this only twice in a month.

Between 21 September and 5 October, UK police forces stopped more than 6,000 vehicles and made 452 arrests, with 298 being for immigration offences, according to the National Police Chiefs' Council.

Anyone identified as being in the country illegally is flagged to the Home Office, while those arrested for other offences entered the criminal justice system.

Essex Police says its operation stopped 428 vehicles resulting in 105 arrests – with 29 of them including immigration offences.

Sgt Dean Young explains there are three busy roads in the county (the A12, the A13 and the A127) which connect three ports – Harwich, Tilbury Docks and the Port of London – to the capital and the M25.

"There are significant ways to get into Essex and ways to get out of the county – it is the perfect infrastructure for criminals," he says.

John Fairhall/BBC A police officer wearing blue gloves is holding six phones, two driving licences and drugs in sealed plastic bags. — A police officer with the six phones, multiple IDs and drugs found in a man's car

I notice officers stopping multiple delivery drivers.

The police say it is because criminal gangs often target the grey economy because it is "cash in hand".

I ask whether it is fair to pick on delivery drivers when there will be many of them who are honest and hardworking.

"We stop people based on their involvement within an economy, not because of who they are or where they come from," says Young.

"We know based on the information that exists in previous offending that this [grey] economy exists to fund organised immigration crime, not solely but in part.

"So we are disrupting an economy, not an individual person."

John Fairhall/BBC A close-up of a man who is wearing handcuffs in the back of a police car. Only his wrists, his hands, jeans and a T-shirt are in the picture. — Essex Police made a total of 105 arrests during the fortnight

Immigration lawyer Harjap Bhangal calls the exercise "random" and says hundreds of vehicles were stopped that did not result in arrests, which was a waste of people's time.

"This is a fishing exercise," he says.

"If you sat an exam and got 5-7%, would you pass? No, you would fail."

He questions if the operation is worth the money, and feels it would be more efficient to use the Home Office funding elsewhere.

The BBC has asked National Police Chiefs' Council how much the operation cost but it has yet to reply.

Meanwhile, Nick Beales from Refugee and Migrant Justice says these figures "should not be cause for celebration".

"If such arrests are prioritised over tackling actual violent crime, it suggests the motivation here was more about appearing tough on immigration rather than protecting the general public."

But Anna Turley, the border security and asylum minister, says it was the largest crackdown on people-smuggling gangs on record.