A twenty five year old Afghan man has been charged with assisting unlawful immigration following his arrest in Belfast as part of a National Crime Agency investigation into suspected cross border people smuggling, the agency stated.
Abad Ulla Alimi, who lives in Dublin, was detained at Grand Central station on 19 November after arriving by train from Dublin with four Afghan nationals. Home Office Immigration Enforcement officers identified him at the station as a suspected facilitator.
According to the release, the group included a couple and two young children believed to be attempting to enter the United Kingdom illegally via the Common Travel Area.
The agency says the family travelled from France to the Republic of Ireland before continuing by rail to Belfast, where they were believed to be planning onward travel to England. Alimi was taken into custody, questioned by NCA officers and charged on 20 November. He was due to appear at Laganside Magistrates Court on 21 November. The family was transferred to immigration authorities.
NCA Belfast Branch Commander David Cunningham said “tackling organised immigration crime remains a top priority for the NCA” and noted that the investigation is one of roughly one hundred targeting upper tier networks or individuals. He added that the agency is working with partners to prevent exploitation of the Common Travel Area and will take action wherever possible.
Mmm how about putting the family on the very next train South! Any bets on they are still here in the North?
You do realise there’s a very good chance he was smuggling them South, into the Republic, given that the majority of migrants claiming asylum in the Republic is reportedly coming that route currently.
Well as they arrived in Belfast from Dublin that’s a bit unlikely isn’t it?
If that’s the case you’d think France would be more interested in helping a fellow EU companion out- still I suppose France would rather them be someone else’s problem and don’t really care who’s they are.
Either way people smuggling is a crime so one can only hope the UK & The Republic are co-operating on stopping this…with French assistance of course.
We really need our own take on ICE and the powers they have.
How Europe have allowed the trafficking of people to become a viable commercial enterprise (on the scale it is) is shameful. Even the Romans understood the importance on border integrity.