[ad_1]
A senior UK legal official raised the possibility that international organized crime groups are smuggling drugs, people and firearms into the UK via Ireland due to stricter controls at British ports thanks to Brexit.
He also suggested that Ireland might have to tighten security at its ports accordingly.
Steve Rodhouse, chief operating officer of the UK’s National Crime Agency, said organized criminals would make a “fundamental choice” as to whether they would continue to smuggle drugs, people and firearms into the UK through ports. English, or if they could decide to do so. change routes to the UK via Northern Ireland via the Republic of Ireland.
Rodhouse told a House of Commons committee that such trafficking was already underway through what might be called the “underbelly” of the Irish border.
“We are seeing relatively small numbers, but we see people being trafficked into the UK via the Republic to date and then moving via ferries and the like to GB. We are very vigilant about that risk,” he told Northern Ireland. . Affairs Committee.
He was asked by the committee chairman if he agreed with a previously published assessment by the National Crime Agency (NCA) that Brexit could mean that the island of Ireland becomes “an attractive back door to the broader criminal market. from United Kingdom”.
Rodhouse said his views were “similar” to those of PSNI Police Chief Simon Byrne, who had previously told the committee that the land border could be seen as “the most vulnerable part of the Common Travel Area.”
“There are organized criminals who might consider that to be the case,” Rodhouse told the committee. “Likewise, there are others who feel there are opportunities to access the UK via other routes. It would be a mistake to ignore the possibility of seeing the Republic as a way to enter.”
He said the organized criminals were “nimble” and would decide whether a greater presence of the UK Border Forces in English ports, and more data on what might be hidden in cargo shipments arriving from abroad, could mean a incentive to use Ireland instead.
“They have a decision to make as to whether they feel that any change in the rest of the GB ports after Brexit will mean that they should change their routes that reach GB through the Republic,” he said.
Steve Tracey, Deputy Director of the UK customs agency’s Directorate Against Organized Crime, HMRC, told the committee: system weaknesses “.
Gregory Campbell of the DUP asked both witnesses if Ireland needed to increase its port security accordingly.
The East Londonderry MP told Rodhouse: “We have to try to make sure that the Republic does its duty and its job, that they do too, because it would be a breach in the UK that criminals could exploit if they thought that they are less diligent in the Republic than we are in the UK. “
Mr. Rodhouse replied: “Yes, I accept it. Clearly, that is an important aspect of our protective security, as it is with other borders in Europe.”
He added: “I agree with your fundamental point. Of course, it is helpful to UK security that the borders of the Republic are policed as effectively as possible.”
The committee heard evidence from both the PSNI, the National Crime Agency and the HMRC that a replacement would be needed for the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), which Britain will formally abandon on January 1.
Without the EAW, or any replacement mechanism, Dublin and London would have to depend for cross-border extraditions on a Council of Europe convention dating from 1956, the committee heard.
While a European arrest warrant could be activated and executed within 48 days, it would take a year for an extradition to be expedited through the Council of Europe convention, the hearing was told.
This year 45 extraditions have been requested to the north and south through the European arrest warrant.
PSNI Police Chief Simon Byrne said there have been “hundreds of years” of people smuggling and smuggling “from the Middle Ages to the present day” on the island of Ireland.
He said cooperation between the PSNI and gardaí would continue and could be improved despite Brexit, depending on the outcome of current negotiations on the future relationship.
He said the PSNI would be “well aware” that they needed to support the Gardaí as of January 1 in regards to policing the land border, and the risk of “more than 300 crossings being exploited by organized crime groups. that they smuggle any of one things. “
Byrne said the difference between EU tariffs and UK tariffs in the event that no deal is reached could be a factor in a possible increase in smuggling. Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, any merchandise from the UK to Northern Ireland at risk of crossing the land border would be subject to EU tariffs.
He also told the committee that the PSNI would be monitoring any possible loyal protests in Northern Ireland ports implementing the Protocol “if they see that the port boundary poses any threat to their perspective of the Union.”
“While we are actively monitoring it, there is no immediate prospect,” he said.
He told the committee that he did not expect to see drastic changes on January 1.
[ad_2]