'100 a year' are snuck in through Dublin Airport, Gardaí are concerned
There are serious security concerns at Garda headquarters at revelations of a sophisticated people-smuggling operation at Dublin Airport,
High-level meetings are expected to be held to discuss airport security after it emerged that two Aer Lingus staff had been arrested on suspicion of smuggling immigrants using company vans, including catering vehicles, through staff perimeter exits to a safe house.
Gardaí are investigating suggestions that perhaps 80-100 people could have been smuggled through the airport each year and that the scam could have been going on for years.
Estimates suggest that between €10,000 and €30,000 could be paid by each person being smuggled.
While searches were continuing yesterday on premises and vehicles, detectives are investigating if other staff at Dublin Airport, in addition to the two arrested, may be involved.
Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald said that “extreme vigilance” was needed at Dublin Airport and every entry point in the country – adding that international trafficking impacts on every European country.
Fianna Fáil justice spokesman Jim O’Callaghan said that, as the Garda investigation proceeds, the “focus needs to be placed on securing and strengthening our border controls”.
Garda sources said indications suggested that the “services of Aer Lingus were used” including vans, such as catering vehicles, to get immigrants off the airport.
While there are no security checks for arriving passengers at airports, each passenger is required to go through passport control, operated by Gardaí and the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS)
While gardaí are still investigating, it is thought immigrants were met at the airport by a staff contact and taken to an area and given Aer Lingus clothing and then escorted to company vans and hidden inside.
These vans were then driven out through staff exits, which are operated by Dublin Airport Authority (DAA). Gardaí have no role at these entry/exits points.
Staff have accredited permits allowing different levels of access to different parts of the airport, with special permits to drive vehicles.
Senior garda sources said there were “serious concerns” regarding security and that there would be “high-level meetings” to discuss the ramifications.
International inquiries are underway after documentation indicated that a travel agency in Rome organised the travel of the immigrants, including Asian nationals, on flights to Dublin.
Assistant Commissioner John O’Driscoll, head of Special Crime Operations, said the Garda National Immigration Bureau arrested the two airline staff on Sunday night as a result of an investigation into the “facilitation of illegal immigration and corrupt practices”.
He said: “We have arrested three people, two of whom are employees of carriers and one of whom was a potential illegal immigrant, whose entry to the State is suspected of being facilitated by the two suspects.”
He said the GNIB worked with the INIS, the DAA and the airline in their investigation, which involved the “comprehensive gathering of information”.
Aer Lingus confirmed two of its employees had been arrested and that Aer Lingus was “co-operating fully” with the investigation.
A DAA spokesman said it was assisting the GNIB.
Immigrant Council of Ireland CEO Brian Killoran said: “Our initial reaction as an organisation is to be wary of the temptation from many circles to conflate illegal immigration with what in a lot of these circumstances can be very, very complex motivations for people to try and enter countries.”
He added: “Somebody who sets foot on soil in Ireland doesn’t just do so easily. They may have gone through multiple, multiple levels of what are essentially international crime networks to get to where they are. We see victim support as central to what is going on here.”
