A judge has described the UK’s borders as ‘a leaking sieve’ after an illegal immigrant drug dealer was deported three times only to return each time to commit more crimes.

Albanian national Baksim Bushati, 37, was sentenced to seven years in prison after he was found to have almost 1kg of cocaine worth £26,875 and £14,000 in cash at his home.

Since 2005, he has been sentenced to prison terms totalling nearly five years for offences of violence, battery and possessing false identification.

Despite being deported from the UK following each jail term, he returned to commit more crimes.

Yesterday, Judge Richard Bray criticised the Government as he sentenced Bushati to his latest prison stretch, saying the UK’s borders ‘leaked like a sieve.’

‘These things make a classic study for people who want to see if the Home Office and the Border Agency are doing their jobs properly,’ the judge told Northampton Crown Court.

‘It just shows how powerless they appear to be. They are hopelessly undermanned and that is what has caused this situation.

‘It is our duty to point this out so the public are aware of it.

‘As I have been saying for the last 10 years, it is a very serious problem which is simply not being dealt with.

‘Our defences to illegal immigrants are leaking like a sieve. I can only hope you will be successfully deported on this occasion.’

For his latest offence, Bushati, from Weedon, Northamptonshire, jumped out of a moving car to try and evade capture on December 17 last year before he was stopped by police dogs.

Jonathan Eley, prosecuting, said Bushati, who admitted possession of Class A drugs with intent to supply, was found with £960 cash, Albanian identification documents and two mobile phones.

‘He gave a false address of Charles Street, Northampton, before officers traced him to his real home in Weedon,’ he said.

‘The defendant said his “life was over” and he was “done for” as a result of his arrest.’

Bushati was first jailed in the UK for three-and-a-half years in 2005 before being deported back to Albania on his release from prison.

But he managed to sneak back into Britain and in September 2010 he was sent to prison for 54 weeks for possession of false identification documents.

He was deported again but he just weeks after arriving in Albania he smuggled himself back into Britain.

In January 2013 he was jailed for 16 weeks for battery.

Maxine Crone, defending, said: ‘He got himself into debt with people he was afraid of and it was they who provided him with the drugs, and effectively forced him to sell them.

‘The trouble he’s had means he would prefer to be back in Albania.’

Read More

Sham marriages are a “massive loophole” in Britain’s border controls and amount to a “golden ticket” into the country for immigrants, an official report has warned.

John Vine, the Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, highlighted serious failings in the way officials are attempting to combat bogus marriages.

He found evidence it could be a “growing problem”, but intelligence on the true picture was “lagging behind”.

The report said Home Office analysts said the four main non-European nationalities involved in sham marriages were Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Nigerian.

Men made up more than eight out of 10 of the non-European half of the arrangement. They were typically trying to marry someone from the newer eastern European states.

The report described how many of the women arrived in the country only a few days before the ceremony, and were referred to by immigration officials as “awayday brides”.

A significant number of sham marriages may be going undetected because register offices are failing to report suspicious couples to immigration officials, the report added.

“A Home Office senior manager described the obtaining of residency through sham marriage as akin to a ‘golden ticket’,” it said.

“All staff we interviewed … stressed the importance of receiving co-operation from registrars in tackling sham marriage.

“One went so far as to decribe sham marriage as a ‘massive loophole in the immigration rules’.”

Read More

Two border officials sacked over their alleged links to Islamist terrorists are suing the Government at the European Court of Human Rights.

Kashif Tariq was suspended by the Home Office because of his cousin’s involvement in a transatlantic bomb plot.

Bilal Gulamhussein was taken off duty because he was accused of being a ‘close associate’ of alleged insurgents fighting British troops in Iraq during the British occupation.

The pair had their security clearances revoked but Government  lawyers used controversial ‘secret courts’ rules to stop them seeing the key evidence against them.

Now they are claiming their rights to fair hearings were breached and have launched proceedings against the UK.

Last night Tory MP Dominic Raab, a former Foreign Office lawyer, told The Mail on Sunday: ‘These individuals have enjoyed a series of appeals under the British justice system.

‘It is a perverse waste of UK taxpayers’ money for these cases now to join the Strasbourg merry-go-round.’

Mr Tariq, 34, worked in Ports-mouth removing illegal immigrants. He was suspended from his post on basic pay in 2006 when his brother and cousin were arrested ‘during a major counter-terrorism investigation into a suspected plot to mount a terrorist attack on transatlantic flights’.

His brother was never charged but his cousin, Tanvir Hussain, was jailed for at least 32 years in 2009 for his role in the liquid bomb plot.

Read More

A man who broke his spine when he deliberately ran headlong into a brick wall while in detention awaiting deportation has launched a High Court damages action.

Gambian Amadou Nyang is now paralysed from the neck down and lives in a care home in West Sussex.

The incident at Tinsley House in January 2008, an immigration removal centre near Gatwick which is managed by G4S on behalf of the UK Border Agency, was allegedly triggered by the repeated refusal to allow Nyang to watch his national team play a football match on TV.

Simon Readhead QC, told Mr Justice Lewis in London: “It appeared to have been that which so agitated and disturbed him that he ran headlong into a wall causing the personal injuries which have devastated his life.”

The prosecution contends that Nyang constantly being confined and not even being allowed to see the football was the last straw.

Mr Readhead said it was clear that Nyang responded to those who took the time to counsel him and he could be calmed down if handled properly.

If there had been better management and an earlier review of his deteriorating condition, he would not have reached such a highly disturbed state with its attendant risk of self-harm.

There was no criticism of officers for failing to stop his impulsive reaction in response to continued provocation but of the situation which was permitted to develop, added counsel.

Read More