Border securityPassports of millions of travelers to U.K. not thoroughly checked
The use of false passports by two passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which disappeared a couple of days ago have highlighted the fact that in the United Kingdom, the passport details of more than twenty million people entering and leaving the United Kingdom every year are not being properly checked. The Home Office’s most recent figures show that data is still not being collected and examined for about 10 percent of the 200 million people flying in and out of the United Kingdom every year.
The use of false passports by two passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which disappeared a couple of days ago have highlighted the fact that in the United Kingdom, the passport details of more than twenty million people entering and leaving the United Kingdom every year are not being properly checked.
The Home Office’s most recent figures show that data is still not being collected and examined for about 10 percent of the 200 million people flying in and out of the United Kingdom every year.
The Telegraph reports that the figures have added to concerns about Britain’s aviation security.
Norman Baker, Minister of State for the Home office, yesterday said that the MH370 mystery bolsters the case for Britain to have tougher exit checks for people leaving the country.
The Home Office admitted that it needs to “improve” border checks using advance passenger information (API) in the coming years
Interpol has repeatedly said that governments are failing to properly monitor stolen passports.
Britain’s e-borders scheme was supposed to improve immigration controls by collecting passport details from people on every scheduled inbound and outbound journey to and from the United Kingdom. The U.K. government originally set a target to collect data on 95 percent of all passenger movements.
Yet, millions of travelers are still not being fully checked.
A Home Office spokesman told the Telegraph: “For foreign passports that have been reported as lost or stolen the U.K. has access to the Interpol Lost and Stolen database and is able to run checks against it.
“The U.K. receives API — the biographic information in an individual’s travel document —- for in excess of 90 percent of passengers flying to, or from, the U.K. We have significantly increased the proportion of passengers providing this information over the last five years. We are working to improve our coverage even further.”
One cause of tension in Britai’s governing coalition is the issue of exit checks at U.K. borders. The scheme was strongly backed by Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat deputy prime minister, but the Home Office has so far not acted on advancing the plan to track everyone leaving the country by 2015.
Norman Baker, the Lib Dem Home Office minister, last night said: “The Liberal Democrats are firmly committed to exit checks at the earliest opportunity. Clearly the events of last week are facts to bear in mind.”
