COI Report March 2012 - UK Border Agency - Home Office

SRI LANKA 7 MARCH 2012
which had been specifically created for this flight. Officials from the Department of Immigration
& Emigration (DIE) had arranged for six tables with three person bench seats to be placed in
front of the seating area. These were then used by their officers to conduct interviews with the
returnees.
A colleague and I from the British High Commission were waiting in the immigration arrivals hall
along with officials from the Police Criminal Investigations Department (CID), SIS and airport
security. DIE had brought in a team of Tamil speaking officers, and CID and SIS had also
drafted in extra staff specifically to assist their airport based colleagues in processing the
charter flight returnees.
The escorting officers who had accompanied the returnees on the flight were brought to the
airport terminal in two further buses. Nearly all of them passed through the transit area and
proceeded into the departure lounge. A UKBA Chief Immigration Officer (CIO) handed several
copies of the final manifest listing the names of the 55 returnees to DIE officials, along with a
bag containing all of their travel documents and other identity documents. Two bags containing
medication for three of the returnees was also handed to the DIE officials. The CIO informed me
that the returnees had been provided with two full hot meals on the aircraft, plus several
snack/drinks breaks during the flight.
Once the group of returnees were seated and comfortable I addressed them in English. I
explained who I was and what procedures they were about to go through, and offered them
words of reassurance about the process and the amount of time it would take. I explained that
we would assist them in contacting waiting relatives or friends, although DIE officials had
instructed us to wait until they had been cleared to proceed before doing this. I added that I
would reunite them with their baggage and personal belongings and when pressed about the
length of time it would take I reiterated that I would remain at the airport until the last one of
them had been cleared. None of the returnees appeared ill or distressed in any way. Some
expressed concerns that they did not have the funds to enable them to travel to their home
addresses, many in the north of the country. I explained to them that once they had cleared the
arrival procedures the International Organization for Migration (IOM) would be providing them
with a travel grant to facilitate their onward travel.
At approximately 1205hrs officials from the DIE began interviewing the returnees at the tables in
front of the seating area, with one immigration officer dealing with three returnees at a time. The
senior DIE official informed me that they had set themselves a target of completing their part of
the process within two hours. The purpose of these interviews was to confirm the identity and
nationality of the returnee. The remaining returnees waited in the seating area and were allowed
to use toilet facilities under the supervision of airport security staff. A water dispenser was
available in the seating area. DIE subsequently completed all of their interviews of the 55
returnees by 1435hrs.
Shortly after the interviewing process commenced I went to the baggage reclaim area to liaise
with the handling agents Sri Lankan Airlines. For the previous two charters baggage had
remained in baggage pallets in a secure area behind the main reclaim area. For this flight
however the baggage emerged on reclaim belt number 4. Sri Lankan Airlines had arranged for
the bags to be taken from the belt and placed on the floor in a corner of the main reclaim area. I
was concerned that the length of time the baggage could remain there before being claimed
may provide the opportunity for others to tamper with the bags. I therefore telephoned the
Airport Duty Manager and requested airport security personnel be provided to ensure the
258 The main text of this COI Report contains the most up to date publicly available information as at 3 February 2012.
Further brief information on recent events and reports has been provided in the Latest News section
to 2 March 2012.