Dock Master Blows Whistle on UK Border Security

 ”UK Border Force and National Crime Agency not fit for purpose”

The question of international terrorism is apparently on the top of all intelligence agencies agenda’s across the world today. From cyber crime, suicide bombers, to knife wielding and gun toting terrorists. Attacks it appears are on the increase across Europe and the planet.

So what is our government doing to prevent such terrible atrocities being perpetrated on an unsuspecting British public? The answer is, absolutely nothing or at least nothing in the Port of Ramsgate. Like many harbours and ports around the countryRamsgate has no defenses in place whatsoever.

So I decided to go undercover in the Royal Harbour of Ramsgate as a Dock Master, to see exactly how vulnerable this country really is from terrorists and ask why the government has failed to act.

For a moment let’s pause and think about comparable security measures in other transportation sectors. Airport’s, are technically no different from sea ports and harbours but to look at airport security you’d think that there is something special. In fact the chances of a terrorist getting onto an airplane with anything more than a cigarette lighter are extremely slim with strict airport security in place. Everyone knows that when you go through an airport these days you have to be prepared to be scanned, x-rayed, monitored, remove items of clothing and physically and undergo being touched up by private security firms. This we put up with simply to go on holiday and we allow these measures in the hope of remaining safe whilst traveling.

If however, you wish to travel to the United Kingdom to commit acts of terrorism or any kind of crime for that matter, you only need to go online to, Apollo Duck an internet based boat selling website and  buy a boat for as little as a few hundred to a few thousand pounds.  You need no proof of identity to buy a boat and in fact the buying and selling of boats is usually done for cash under the table. You need no formal qualifications or training to take a boat out to sea with the exception of obtaining a VHF license which is the only legal requirement. However I don’t think terrorists and criminals will pay too much attention to not having a radio license.

So once they have acquired their vessel they suddenly witness the elaborate security system of the United Kingdom evaporating into thin air. In fact you have in most harbours 24 hour access to the sea, which means terrorists and criminals can come and go freely from Europe, North Africa, in fact anywhere in the world easily whenever they want.

The fear for most resident’s in the coastal towns of Southern England, is of migrants making their way across the channel in small boats or even swimming across the twenty or so miles of Channel and landing on the beach. As yet, this scenario hasn’t’t materialised, at least not this year, with only a handful of cases being reported. However, there is a clear and present danger posed by terrorism, child trafficking, people and drug smuggling who all have VIP passes to our open borders. 

According to Port Control employees whilst monitoring shipping traffic on radar, they witnessed three boats converging in the Channel, they spent a few minutes together before two of them headed off back out to sea with the third boat heading into the Port.

The Port Control Officer on duty called the Border Force by telephone to alert them of the suspicious activity of the three boats. The Border Force failed to respond.  The small fishing boat which manifested in the Royal Harbour had no name and no identifying markings. The owner had brought the boat in through port control and moored up in the visitor’s marina of the Royal Harbour.

There was no security that saw the boat arrive, no security cameras on the pontoon, no metal detectors, x-ray machines or Dock Masters to meet the people on board, no drugs dogs and no passport control. The owner of the vessel had even returned the next day, giving a false name and address to the seasonal Dock Master, paying for the mooring before disappearing. The identity or nationality of the boat owner was never discovered.

A week or so later the “boat with no name” was getting attention as the owner had failed to pay for his stay beyond a day or two. Border Force and the National Crime Agency also came to see the boat and it was up to me to show them the vessel and help conduct a search. It became apparent that this was a drugs boat as we’d found hidden compartments inside the boat which Border Force recognized as drug smuggling compartments. I was asked if I would be willing to make a witness statement if it was needed about what I saw. It was decided by Border Force and the National Crime Agency to watch the boat to see if the owner came back.

“Ignored By Both Border Force and The National Crime Agency”

A few weeks had passed and when I was asked about “The boat with no name” I was told by harbor staff that it had gone.

It appeared that the owner came back to the Marina, picked up his boat, paid his mooring fees and then exited the port going back out to sea. Border Force and the National Crime Agency had no intelligence operation in place and in fact one of their Vessels HMS Valiant was in dock for “Curry Night”, and they too had allowed the boat with no name to leave never to be seen again. One of the Senior Dock Masters at the Harbour wanted to remove the boat from the water so the owner would have to make himself known to staff, who in tuen would alert Border Force and the Police but this request was ignored by both Border Force and the National Crime Agency.

National Crime Agency officers later said that the drug smugglers had probably spent only around a thousand pounds on the boat, which makes this a lucrative operation for them bringing in on average drugs worth in excess of fifty thousand pounds a time. Border Force and the National Crime Agency left with their tales firmly between their legs.

“HMS Valiant and Seeker are too busy ordering take out to protect our borders”

Whilst I have been a Dock Master at the Royal Harbour I witnessed both HMS Valiant and Seeker both coming in and out of the port on a regular basis. They come in for fuel and crew changer over and typically stay for two or three days at a time.

I asked officers of HMS Valiant and Seeker if they’ve stopped and searched many boats in the Channel? I was surprised to learn that they do not have the crew to stop and search suspected vessels. It turns out that each of the Cutters has a limited reservists crew, you know, like the butcher, the baker and the candle stick maker and the skipper told me that they essentially baby sit the inexperienced crew, who are untrained and motor up and down the channel for a few days. HMS Valiant and Seeker on opposite shifts, come into various coastal ports and order take out from the local Tandoori or pizza, alcohol and fish and chips for the crew all on tax payers money.

“Border Force Officers were so drunk they lost their hire car”

One day, I was approached by three of HMS Seekers crew who had lost their hire car somewhere in the harbour. They wanted to check the security camera’s for their lost car to see if they could see themselves parking the car in the harbour. Apparently, they had returned after a three day drink binging session. They had come into the port hired a car on their expenses and went out and got drunk. Not only did they get drunk, but they got so drunk that none of them could remember where they’d parked the car. One would have assumed that in amongst the group of the Border Force Officers they would have had a designated driver but no.

As long as they don’t get stopped by the Police it appears that Border Force Staff have no qualms about risking ours and their own lives drinking and driving. The car was never found at least not in the Harbour and the Border Force Officers went back to work, knowing the tax payer would pick up the tab. Basically it was all hilarious for them which was like being smacked around the face with a dead fish from the very people tasked by the public with protecting our borders.

“HMS Valiant and Seeker can not board boats in the Channel”

On another occasion I asked both Valiant and Seeker crew what do they do if they find a boat they wish to search. Firstly, they gave the same response they laughed and said they can’t board boats at sea.

They do as it turns out have an inflatable Navy Spec Rib but I was told that they need four crew members to operate it and they simply do not have the staff, as the only crew members who are fully trained are essential to the ship and cannot leave to search boats. Surely Border Force or the British Navy can spare eight more personnel from somewhere, so that both HMS Valiant and Seeker the Border Force cutters can actually search boats.  They can only come to the aid of people in the water, so if you are drowning, in distress or your boat is sinking they can rescue you but if you have a bomb, drugs or full of  illegal immigrants on your boat there is nothing they can do whilst at sea.

Again just like the London 2012 Olympics the United Kingdom government are playing the security theater gambling game. Not only spending tax payer’s money on two under crewd Border Force Cutters who have no powers to board suspicious vessels, to the land Border Force and National Crime agency officers who display an astonishing lack of intelligence. Agencies do not communicate with each other and seem to both think that each respective agency is a waste of time. Meanwhile, the boat with no name is still out there one assumes, still operating between Europe and Great Britain with complete impunity.

As an example, If you left your backdoor of your house unlocked and open all the time, any reasonable person would rightly assume  that it is only a matter of time before someone came in and committed a crime in your house. Nobody would have any sympathy for you, in fact they would think you were an idiot for leaving the back door open in the first place.   Ports and harbours are the countries back door and they are all completely wide open nationwide.

So is the security of British ports a scam, a con, a fraud being perpetrated on you, the British tax payer? I certainly suspect so with what I’ve witnessed.  

God’s forbid that a major terrorist event should ever happen but if it did you now know that there is a tried and tested route into this country, where no passports are checked, no Border Force or immigration officials are waiting, no drug sniffer dogs, no armed police patrol and no Customs Officers check your passport. No one is asking people to take their shoes and belts off, no x-ray machines or metal detectors and no G4S or SERCO style private security firms touching you up through security.  

The surrounding coastal towns of the United Kingdom are awash with Class A Drugs which regularly come into the country through the ports and harbours. If drugs can be so easily brought into this country then what about weapons of mass destruction, too extreme you say okay then what about bomb making equipment? Too James Bond, okay terrorists, Paedophiles and people smugglers!

Once they have committed their crimes, they can easily slip out of the country through any number of hundreds of harbours and ports around the country just like “the boat with no name” did.

So the next time a terrorist attack happens in the United Kingdom, we have really no one to blame but ourselves because we left the back door wide open allowing terrorists, illegal immigrants and criminals to simply motor in.

You may be impressed with large looking Border Force Cutters on the nightly news but it’s all just security theater, they can’t even launch an inflatable boat at sea. They do have a very large water cannon though, which no one can use because of health and safety and a lack of training.

If the government knows about this then why aren’t they doing anything about it? Is the Terrorist threat not real enough? After all ISIS and other terrorist organisations have struck in France which is closer to Ramsgate then London is.  

Theresa May was responsible as Home Secretary and she is responsible now as Prime Minister. So what has our great leader done in her early days in office to secure this country…said a few things about port border controls but done absolutely nothing! Besides, it may not all be her fault, I suspect the Border Force don’t tell her about “Curry, Pizza and fish and chips night” and three day drink binging sessions and losing hire cars.

Downing Street has yet to comment on these new allegations.