A sophisticated network of UK-funded cameras worth £1.6 million
has been installed on the Albania-Kosovo border to tackle illegal
migration and criminal gangs in the region.
The equipment includes a fleet of drones and number plate
recognition cameras to allow Albanian systems to recognise
British vehicles – which have been used by criminals seeking to
avoid detection by the local police.
The new drones will allow authorities to track migrants who try
to get through the region via the mountainous areas of Albania,
which are otherwise difficult to police. The vehicle cameras will
help British and Albanian police work together more closely,
searching records faster and sharing information when a car is
suspected of being involved in people-smuggling or other criminal
behaviour.
The Minister for Countering Illegal Migration, visited Albania this
week, where he saw first-hand the new technology and other ways
the country is clamping down on people-smuggling gangs.
He went on to visit the UK's flagship New Perspectives programme
designed to create education, job and business opportunities to
provide a more prosperous future for young Albanian nationals.
The Minister met some of the young people benefitting from the
initiative in the northern city of Kukës.
Following this, the Minister travelled to the Albanian capital of
Tirana, for a ministerial conference attended by countries from
across the Western Balkans region.
Together with Albania's Minister of Interior, Taulant Balla, they
discussed ways of working together more closely to address the
shared challenge of illegal migration.
These initiatives build on our successful partnership which has
already reduced small boat arrivals to the UK from Albania by
over 90%.
Minister for Countering Illegal Migration, said:
“Our partnership with Albania and the work we have done together
to ramp up returns is a benchmark for how we want to work with
partners globally. Almost no Albanian nationals are now arriving
in the UK on a small boat.
“We have delivered great results not just in reducing illegal
migration to the UK, but also in helping to provide opportunities
for Albanian people to stay and prosper in their home country.
Our work to stop the boats doesn't start in the English Channel –
it starts at the source.”
The action forms part of a nationwide increase in Home Office
activity to tackle illegal migration. Enforcement visits rose by
68% last year and arrests more than doubled, while returns of
people with no right to be in the UK increased to 26,000.
This week has also seen detentions begin ahead of the first
flights to Rwanda in seven to nine weeks. The government's Rwanda
plan will deter vulnerable migrants from making perilous journeys
across the Channel and ensure those who come to the UK illegally
cannot stay.
The government has also announced a plan to cut the
number of migrants that would have come last year to the UK by
300,000 – the largest reduction ever.
