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Hundreds detained in Northern Ireland in crackdown on people smugglers | Immigration and asylum

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Bu içerikte, Kuzey İrlanda’da yüzlerce kişinin, İrlanda’dan sınırı geçerek Büyük Britanya’ya ulaşmaya çalışırken gözaltına alındığı ve bu operasyonun insan kaçakçılarına karşı gerçekleştirildiği belirtilmektedir. İmmigrasyon yetkilileri, suç çetelerinin küçük teknelerle Manş Denizi’ni geçmek yerine daha güvenli bir yol olarak sundukları yasa dışı seyahat paketleri için 8,000 €’ya kadar ücret talep ettiklerini söylüyor. İrlanda’da yaşanan gözaltılar, İngiltere İçişleri Bakanlığı’nın Nisan ayında başlattığı Comby Operasyonu adlı kampanyanın bir sonucu olarak gerçekleşmektedir. Bu operasyon, İrlanda Cumhuriyeti’nde Garda Siochána ile ortaklaşa yürütülen Gull Operasyonu’nun rutin göçmen kontrollerini yoğunlaştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. İngiltere ve İrlanda arasındaki ortak seyahat alanına (CTA) yönelik kötüye kullanımı engellemeyi hedefleyen bu operasyonlar, Belfast’ı İrlanda Cumhuriyeti’ne arka kapı olarak kullanan düzensiz göçmenlerin tartışma konusu haline gelmesine neden olmuştur. Operasyon Comby’nin odaklandığı bu hafta, Belfast, Manchester, Liverpool, Holyhead ve Cairnryan limanları ve havalimanlarındaki görevlileri içeren üç günlük bir operasyonla sonuçlandı. Belfast’ta feribot veya uçaklara binmeye çalışan dört kişi, İranlı bir kişi dahil, tutuklandı. Bu kişinin Ukraynalı olarak poz vererek Dublin’den Barcelona’ya seyahat ettiği tespit edildi ve sahte Ukrayna pasaportu ele geçirildi. Görevliler, belgedeki çok sayıda damganın, belgenin daha önce başka ülkelerde kullanılarak hazırlandığını gösterdiğini ve bu durumun örgütlü suçlular tarafından kullanılan yeni bir yöntemi işaret edebileceğini belirtti. İrlanda’ya giden mülteci başvurularının artışı, İrlanda’da siyasi bir tartışma konusu haline gelmiştir. İrlanda hükümeti verilerine göre, 2019’da neredeyse 5,000 olan mülteci başvuruları bu yıl 17,536’ya yükselmiştir. İmmigrasyon yetkililerine göre, insan kaçakçıları şimdi Dublin’i Birleşik Krallık’a bir alternatif olarak hedef alıyor ve Avrupa’dan gelen Suriyeliler, Kuveyt’teki devletsiz Arap azınlıklar ve diğer Avrupa vatandaşları da dahil olmak üzere çeşitli uluslardan kişilerin İrlanda’yı arka kapı olarak kullandığına dair kanıtlar bulunmaktadır. İnsanların Dublin’den Belfast’a gitmek için çetelere ödemeye yetecek kadar çaresiz oldukları debriefinglerde, Avrupa’dan uçuş, sahte belgeler, Belfast’a yolculuk ve Birleşik Krallık’taki varış noktalarına bilet için 5,000 ila 8,000 € arasında ücret talep edildiği belirtilmektedir. Evens, çetelerin tüm masraflarının 1,000 €’yu bulabileceğini ve bu işin oldukça kârlı bir iş olduğunu söyledi.
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Kaynak: www.theguardian.com

Hundreds of people have been detained in Northern Ireland trying to get into Great Britain by crossing the border from Ireland in anoperation aimed at cracking down on people smugglers.

Criminal gangs are charging up to €8,000 for the illegal travel package they present as a safer route to crossing the Channel on small boats , say immigration officials.

The interceptions in Northern Ireland have flowed from a UK Home Office campaign called Operation Comby launched last April to intensify the routine immigration controls implemented by Operation Gull, a long standing joint effort with the Garda Siochána in the Irish republic to stamp out abuse of the common travel area (CTA).

The CTA allows British and Irish citizens only to travel without passports between the islands of Ireland, Great Britain, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands but it has become the subject of controversy in Ireland over allegations that irregular migrants are using Belfast as a backdoor to the republic.

A three-day Comby operation focussing on travel in the other direction this week led to multiple arrests, the Home Office said. It involved officers in the ports and airports of Northern Ireland, Manchester, Liverpool, Holyhead and Cairnryan.

On Tuesday, Home Office officials detained four individuals trying to board ferries or planes in Belfast. One was an Iranian who appeared to have travelled from Barcelona to Dublin posing as a Ukrainian.

Immigration enforcement officers find an alleged counterfeit Ukrainian passport on an Iranian travelling via Dublin and Belfast to the UK. Photograph: Paul Faith/The Guardian

He was stopped by two immigration enforcement officials as he approached the boarding card turnstiles at Belfast airport.

Within minutes, the officers suspected his Ukrainian passport was counterfeit and he admitted to being Iranian.

Officers said the detention could be “low hanging fruit” that led to a potential smuggling gang in Dublin or elsewhere in Europe using the common travel area as a back door to Great Britain.

Jonathan Evans, the inspector at the criminal and financial investigations unit in immigration enforcement in Belfast, said the numerous stamps in the man’s passport were designed to make it look like he was well-travelled.

Operation Comby’s Jonathan Evans, inspector at the immigration enforcement unit, outside the ferry port in Belfast. Photograph: Paul Faith/The Guardian

This suggested the document had been prepared by a criminal gang “to make it look like he has gone through multiple border controls previously” with immigration stamps from other countries.

He added: “We will now run his fingerprints through our databases and talk to Europol,” the officer said. “We will also probably put out a national alert to see if there have been any other Ukrainian counterfeit passports been used and this could lead us to a new method used by organised criminals.”

The surge in the number of asylum seekers going the other direction from Britain to Belfast and then Dublin was the centre of a political row in Ireland earlier this year after the justice minister, Helen McEntee, said there was anecdotal evidence the sharp rise in the number of those seeking international protection were entering the country via Northern Ireland.

Maintaining the invisible border between Northern Ireland and the republic was a political red line during the Brexit negotiations. Ireland and the EU faced down Brexiters who wanted a hard border.

Asylum applications in Ireland have jumped from just under 5,000 in 2019 to more than 17,536 so far this year, according to Irish government data.

Evans say there is evidence that people-smuggling gangs are now also targeting Dublin as a backdoor to the UK as a VIP alternative to small boats across the channel.

Among the nationalities that have used Ireland as a “backdoor” are Syrians and Bedoonis, a stateless Arab minority in Kuwait, and other European nationals who have had what Evans calls “adverse” immigration decisions in Great Britain.

“They are exploiting the common travel area in a way they didn’t before. So what is happening now is that we are using this kind of overt approach of Comby to raise public awareness. This is all about pushing out the gangs,” said Evans.

Debriefing from people desperate enough to pay the gangs to get to Belfast from Dublin show they charge “between €5,000 and €8,000 for the flight from Europe, counterfeit documents, the trip to Belfast and for the ticket to wherever their destination is in the UK”.

“It might cost the gangs €1,000 all in. It is a lucrative business,” Evans said.

Hundreds detained in Northern Ireland in crackdown on people smugglers | Immigration and asylum
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