Sophisticated passport scams used at ports

Friday 17 July 2015

Immigration officers have stopped people trying to get into Jersey with sophisticated counterfeit passports in the last 12 months.

They say that 28 people were stopped from using Jersey as a ‘back door’ into Britain in 2014.

Most turned up without a valid visa or work permit, but eight had either fake or illegally doctored passports.

They were sent back to their country of origin – almost always France – for authorities there to deal with.

Mark Cockerham, the Director of Law Enforcement at the Customs and Immigration Service, said that officers used not just training but also specialist equipment to spot counterfeit (fake) or forged (doctored) passports.

He said: “They will be using the Island to get through immigration control, and once they are here that gives them easy passage to the UK, so from Jersey’s point of view, it’s imperative that there are tight controls because we do not want to be perceived as a weak back door into the UK.

“Some of the documents that we have seen presented are very sophisticated. We have officers trained in forgery detection and specialist equipment that we use as well.

“With forged or counterfeit documents they are refused entry to Jersey. They will obviously have been missed coming out of the country that they have just left. Depending on the circumstances, that’s likely when they get back to their point of origin that may involve prosecution or removal to their home country.”