Heathrow immigration blunder
03.02.10
A Heathrow immigration officer has been suspended after letting up to 100 passengers through without passport or border checks, the Sun reports. CCTV showed the employee herding passengers from a BA flight from Rome away from the normal route, through a side door into Domestic Arrivals.
The passengers then picked up their luggage and left Terminal 5 without passport or border checks. Staff tried to catch up with them, but 61 left the airport unaccounted for, the newspaper reports. The officer was immediately suspended.
A 'source' told the Sun: ‘Immigration Services have no idea where those 61 came from originally. Obviously Rome is a huge international hub from the Middle East and Africa. The authorities are now making checks on whether it was an honest mistake or a serious plot.’ A BAA spokesman said: ‘At no time was security compromised,' which is either inaccurate, or contradicts the story completely.
UPDATE: The UKBA have asked us to add the following statement to this story
UK Border Agency Heathrow Director Philip Astle said: 'We are aware that a small number of passengers arriving from Italy were mistakenly directed by the airport operator through domestic arrivals channels at Terminal 5, where they would not have been seen by UK Border Agency officers. We are working closely with BAA to ensure this does not happen again.'
'The majority of the passengers were identified before leaving the baggage hall, and were redirected through the correct border controls. We have since obtained details of the remaining passengers and have carried out checks against our watchlist.'
They have also asked that we make it clear that the member of staff who misdirected the passengers was a BAA employee, not an immigration officer.
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