Customs and Immigration Service Annual Report 2015
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CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION SERVICE ANNUAL REPORT 2015 R.47/2016 MISSION STATEMENT THE CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION SERVICE IS COMMITTED TO PROVIDING A STRONG AND EFFECTIVE BORDER CONTROL IN ORDER TO PROTECT JERSEY FROM THE THREATS OF: ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION AND THE MOVEMENT OF PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED GOODS; AND LOSS OF GOVERNMENT REVENUE FROM THE EVASION OF IMPORT TAX OR DUTY; WHILST HONOURING THE ISLAND’S EXTERNAL CUSTOMS, IMMIGRATION, PASSPORT AND NATIONALITY OBLIGATIONS AND, WHEREVER PRACTICAL, MEETING THE PRINCIPLES OF FREE MOVEMENT FOR PEOPLE AND GOODS. INDEX PAGE FOREWORDS 1 - 3 WHAT WE DO 4 LAW ENFORCEMENT 5 - 13 REVENUE AND GOODS CONTROL 14 - 23 IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY 25 - 32 RESOURCES 33 - 35 FOREWORD FOREWORD BY THE ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS I am delighted to commend the Annual Report for 2015 of the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service. As Assistant Minister for Home Affairs I have had responsibility for the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service since October 2014, however I already had insight into the working of this vital Service through my previous role as Chairman of the Education and Home Affairs Scrutiny Panel. The Service has a wide range of diverse responsibilities across the areas of law enforcement, revenue and goods control and immigration and nationality and I continue to be impressed with the way, in all of these areas, staff balance the requirements to comply with legislation whilst providing what I consider to be an efficient and effective service to the public. It is my opinion that this Annual Report again demonstrates how the Service works hard to protect our Island from the threats posed by illegal immigration, the smuggling of prohibited goods such as controlled drugs and the fraudulent evasion of duties In these challenging times our Customs and Immigration Service continues to protect our borders and collect significant revenue by maximising the flexible use of existing resources. However, it must be remembered that this is against a background of increasing budgetary pressures. I therefore consider that despite these pressures, Customs and Immigration must remain a discrete and properly resourced Service in order to continue to deliver an excellent service provision to the public of our Island. Connétable Deidre Mezbourian Assistant Minister for Home Affairs Customs and Immigration Service 1 Annual Report 2015 FOREWORD FOREWORD BY THE HEAD OF SERVICE I am pleased to present the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service Annual Report for 2015, a productive but challenging year, filled with great sadness following the sudden death in April of our friend and colleague Neil Hussey. Once again I commend all my colleagues in the Service for their continued support, professionalism and dedication. Their work, which includes collecting revenue, controlling illegal immigration, issuing passports and detecting prohibited importations, such as controlled drugs, makes a significant and important contribution to keeping Jersey the safe place it is. Throughout 2015 the Service continued to engage fully in the ongoing public sector reform process and despite growing levels of activity and reduced resources, we achieved additional savings and increased efficiencies through vacancy management and maximising the use of the multi- functional method of working for all officers. Whilst the following report describes in detail the work of all sections of the Service during 2015 I will briefly highlight the more significant activities for the year: Immigration Legislation To maintain the Island’s position within the Common Travel Area major updates to local Immigration Legislation were prepared by the Service during 2015. Work on extending the relevant sections of this legislation will be progressed by the Law Officers Department in 2016. Centralised Passport Printing Project The printing in the UK of Jersey variant British passports went live on 5 March 2015. The project was completed within budget and in the agreed timescale. Since “go live” every passport authorised in Jersey has been printed within the agreed 24 hour period. Immigration Refusals at the Ports A total of 19 foreign nationals were refused entry at the ports, 10 travelling on forged or counterfeit identity documents. Customs and Immigration Service 2 Annual Report 2015 FOREWORD Drugs Seizures The value of controlled drugs seized by the Service in 2015 was £2.3 million, an increase of almost 50% above the 2010 – 2014 average. Revenue As was correctly forecast, the Service collected a total of £54m in customs and excise duties and £4.1m in import GST. I am sure that 2016 will not be without challenge for our Service, most notably due to increasing budgetary pressures. We will continue to play our part in the reform of the public sector and continuously examine all areas to ensure efficiency; I remain convinced that it is essential for Jersey to retain an effective and robust, pro-active Customs and Immigration Service, properly resourced and trained. David A J Nurse Head of Service Customs and Immigration Service 3 Annual Report 2015 WHAT WE DO Core Functions Countering the smuggling of prohibited, restricted and dutiable goods by the effective control of passengers and goods Preventing illegal immigration by maintaining border controls on persons arriving from outside of the Common Travel Area (UK, Republic of Ireland, Guernsey and the Isle of Man) Collecting and accounting for Customs and Excise duties, including import GST Investigating fully all offences against the Customs and Immigration Laws Preparing case files for HM Attorney General for the prosecution of major offences Maintaining an intelligence resource to detect serious organised criminality targeted against the Customs or Immigration controls Investigating drug financial crime and seizing the assets of drug traffickers, in partnership with the States of Jersey Police Administering the import and export licensing regimes for applicable goods Ensuring compliance with European Union rules on the commercial movement of goods Issuing British passports and managing the naturalisation of foreign nationals as British citizens Arranging the deportation of foreign nationals where the Lieutenant-Governor deems their presence not conducive to the public good Authorising entry clearance visas for persons wishing to travel to Jersey Issuing work permits to qualifying foreign nationals . Customs and Immigration Service 4 Annual Report 2015 LAW ENFORCEMENT INTRODUCTION TO LAW ENFORCEMENT The Law Enforcement section of the Service consists of Customs and Immigration officers in the Frontier Teams, the Service Investigation Unit, the Joint Financial Crimes Unit and the Service Intelligence Bureau. The officers in these sections are responsible for investigating drug importations, financial crime aspects of drug trafficking, immigration offences and excise/import GST fraud. The strategy that will be adopted when investigating these types of offences is as follows:- Drugs The Service will investigate the illegal importation of all types of controlled drugs. For this purpose, the intelligence and investigation sections will work together and support each other in the development of target operations to arrest and prosecute the principals behind syndicates attempting to import controlled drugs into the Island. Wherever possible, the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service (JCIS) will look to work jointly with other law enforcement agencies, both on and off Island, to achieve its aims in this area. For example (but not limited to) States of Jersey Police (SoJP), Guernsey Border Agency (GBA), Direction Nationale du Renseignement et des Enquêtes Douanières (DNRED), and the National Crime Agency (NCA). In such operations, officers of the Service will always look to effect arrests and make seizures where this will cause the greatest impact on the drug syndicate itself. If this means arranging for action to be taken by a law enforcement agency outside the Island, then that is the strategy that will be adopted. In this way the Service will meet its responsibilities under the Island’s Criminal Justice Policy. A significant part of the work of officers in the Frontier Teams is the identification of drug couriers. The role of the courier is usually at the lower level of the drug syndicate chain and such investigations are concluded over a short period of time in comparison with the target operations. Nevertheless, the quantity/value of the drugs seized can often be large and effective at disrupting the Island’s supply. The identification, interception and prosecution of drug couriers, therefore, will continue to be an important part of the Service’s daily drug investigation duties. The Service’s investigation remit does not extend to drug street dealing/possession of drugs in the Island. Customs and Immigration Service 5 Annual Report 2015 LAW ENFORCEMENT Financial Crime Officers of the Service, who are in the Joint Financial Crimes Unit (JFCU), will continue to investigate the financial status of those individuals who are convicted of drug trafficking offences in Jersey, with a view to applying for a confiscation order to the Royal Court to seize any assets which are identified as the proceeds of drug trafficking. The officers will also undertake financial investigations on behalf of Law Enforcement authorities from outside the Island particularly in relation to drugs/VAT/excise fraud. Immigration The Service will investigate illegal immigration both at the frontier (where persons attempt