CUSTOMS AND IMMIGRATION SERVICE ANNUAL REPORT 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 - 4 WHAT WE DO 5 LAW ENFORCEMENT 6 - 13 REVENUE AND GOODS CONTROL 14 - 23 IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY 24 - 32 RESOURCES 33 - 35 FOREWORD FOREWORD BY THE ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS I am very pleased to commend the Jersey Customs and Immigration Annual Report for 2016, a Service that has a wide range of diverse responsibilities across the areas of law enforcement, revenue and goods control and immigration and nationality. As Assistant Minister for Home Affairs I have had responsibility for Customs and Immigration since October 2014 and I continue to be impressed with the way staff balance the requirements to comply with legislation whilst providing an efficient and effective service to the public of our Island. I believe that the activities and results described in this Annual Report again demonstrate how Officers work 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, however it must also be remembered that the demands on the Service continue to increase. As I mentioned in my speech to the States Assembly during the debate on the Draft Medium Term Financial Plan Addition for 2017 – 2019, whilst these are financially challenging times for all areas of the public service I consider it vital that Customs and Immigration remain properly resourced with the appropriate level of funding to continue to keep us, and all Islanders, safe and secure. Connétable Deidre Mezbourian Assistant Minister for Home Affairs Customs and Immigration Service 1 Annual Report 2016 FOREWORD FOREWORD BY THE HEAD OF SERVICE I am pleased to present the Jersey Customs and Immigration Service Annual Report for 2016, another productive year but once again filled with sadness following the death in May of our friend and colleague Julie Howard. As in previous years, I commend all my colleagues for their support, professionalism and dedication. Their work, which includes collecting revenue, controlling illegal immigration, issuing passports and detecting prohibited importations such as controlled drugs, continues to make a significant and important contribution to keeping Jersey the safe place it is. Whilst the following report describes in detail the work of all sections of the Service during 2016, I will briefly highlight the more significant activities for the year: Customs and Excise System for Administration of Revenue The Customs payment system CAESAR, which allows individuals and businesses to pay Customs duties and import GST online, was upgraded in 2016. The project was funded by eGov and sought to address the issue of an outdated user interface and to provide accessibility for mobile devices. As a consequence of the enhancements the user experience has been improved, freight companies benefit from not having to warehouse detained items for lengthy periods and the number of enquiries has reduced. Immigration Enforcement A total of 17 foreign nationals were refused entry at the ports, 2 travelling on forged or counterfeit identity documents. An illegal immigrant was discovered concealed in the boot of a vehicle driven by a British subject. Both were convicted of immigration offences. Drugs Seizures The value of controlled drugs seized by the Service in 2016 was in excess of £3.7 million, almost double the 2011 – 2015 average, of £1.9m. Customs and Immigration Service 2 Annual Report 2016 FOREWORD Cash Seizures £375,815 seized by officers and 10 individuals were charged with offences under the Proceeds of Crime (Jersey) Law 1999. Revenue As was correctly forecast, the Service collected a total of £62.3m in customs and excise duties and import GST, an increase of almost 6.5% or just over £4m when compared with the revenue collected by the Service in 2015. Brexit Looking forward to 2017, the following areas have been identified as key Brexit work streams for the Islands’ authorities: Immigration Customs Union (Goods) Agricultural and Fisheries (sub-set of Customs Union) Financial Services Transport Communications The first two involve the movement of people and goods and are central to the remit of Customs and Immigration. The implications of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU is therefore likely to have a significant impact on the operations of the Service in terms of its objectives and processes. The Service has two Officers dedicated to work on Brexit related projects which currently involves scenario planning, stakeholder engagement, data analysis and cross departmental liaison. Senior Managers are also engaged in workshops with UK departments such as the Home Office, HMRC and the Department for Exiting the EU. Customs and Immigration Service 3 Annual Report 2016 FOREWORD These workshops, also attended by the other Crown Dependencies, consider the implications of withdrawal and offer the opportunity for the Service to highlight significant issues and needs the Island may have in terms of the future movement of people in and out of the Common Travel Area and also the movement of goods between the UK, the EU and the rest of the world. The Service is also liaising with HM Passport Office to consider the future format of the Island variant passport of which there are 80,000 currently in circulation David A J Nurse Head of Service Customs and Immigration Service 4 Annual Report 2016 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 5 Annual Report 2016 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 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 6 Annual Report 2016 LAW ENFORCEMENT Financial Crime Officers of the Service based in the Joint Financial Crimes Unit (JFCU), will 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.