UK Border Guards “Powerless” To Stop Returning Jihadists

UK Border Guards “Powerless” To Stop Returning Jihadists

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According to an anonymous whistleblower, British border guards are “virtually powerless to stop and detain” returning jihadists fighters, Britain’s Telegraph reports.

UK Border Force officers have “zero discretion” to apprehend or question returning travellers if they hold a British passport and haven’t been “flagged” by security forces. This means that the officers tasked with protecting Britain’s border have practically no authority to protect the country from “cleanskin” jihadists who haven’t previously come in contact with authorities.

Under the Terrorism Act 2000, British immigration officers have the authority to “stop, question and detain” anyone who they think could be “concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.” Unfortunately, these authorities have never been actually granted to Border Force agents.

The whistleblower called it a “glaring omission” that officers are prevented from exercising the powers granted to them.

“If we are satisfied they are British, their passport is genuine and their name is not ‘flagged’, we have no powers beyond that to stop them. They have conferred no specific powers under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act on immigration officers in arrivals halls. It would be unlawful for them to detain a Brit,” the whistleblower to the Telegraph.

Travellers can only be detained if their name appears on the “Warning Index” database. Suspects with British passports must be allowed through the border with no checks if their name doesn’t appear on the database.

“It’s not enough to rely on laws which allow immigration officers to stop suspects who are on the anti-terror databases,” the whistleblower said. “What about the ones the security services do not know about yet? Strangely enough, some people do things for the first time.”

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