Record detection of undesirables at the borders to exploit and attack
SEX slaves, foreign fugitives and persons of national security interest are being detected attempting to enter Australia now almost every single day.
Behind the Scenes
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EXCLUSIVE
SEX slaves, foreign fugitives and persons of national security interest are being detected attempting to enter Australia now almost every single day, with a review of the new Home Affairs super ministry crediting greater co-ordination for record detections.
And the refresh to law enforcement had seen a “sixth sense” reinstalled to intelligence-led operations with threats now more likely to be identified offshore before suspects can board an Aussie-bound plane or shortly after they arrive at our international airports.
Despite more than 21 million passenger movements through air hubs this year, an increase of more than one million over last year, detections of undesirables had also significantly increased.
Newly appointed Australian Border Force chief Michael Outram said the ABF-led Taskforce Cadena had uncovered a nexus between rogue hiring intermediaries, some employers and organised crime groups for exploiting foreign workers particularly from Malaysia.
“The exploitation of our visa system is beneficial to organised criminals and whether that’s for the purposes of getting girls here for the sex industry or bringing in cheap labour and making money out of them, it’s really something we didn’t know a lot about two or three years ago but we are now getting a handle on,” he told News Corp Australia.
But Mr Outram said the development of ABF’s counter terrorism unit and the relatively low-profile shift to have more Airport Liaison Officers (ALOs) deployed to key offshore air hubs had vastly increased the agency’s ability to make suspect detections.
He said the housing of ASIO, Australian Federal Police and ABF agencies among others under the Home Affairs Department umbrella, had provided better co-ordination and intelligence and together detections of suspects were being made virtually daily — double that of a year ago.
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The ABF now had 120 personnel in the counter terrorist unit and ALOs deployed to 15 air hubs offshore — notably Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and Doha — working with host governments and major airlines predominantly Qantas with a focus on foreign fighters and other national security threats.
“Before it was about who was leaving and now who is coming back. So they (ABF officers) switched between outbound and inbound but they’ve actually re-established in the ABF that sixth sense if you like, the ability to ask people questions and work out appropriately if this person is someone we should be worried about, to form that intuitive sense looking at their attitude, behaviour, their baggage, something they are doing, the order in which they are doing things.
“The strike rates are now they are finding someone almost daily with forged papers, from one country with a fake visa or people at national security level concerns.”
He said the AFP and ASIO were the lead agencies on terror threats but ABF embedded with them on all levels.
“We are a tool in the box for Home Affairs and the government to help combat and fight the risk,” he added.
“There is a risk of course, they can’t be all dead,” he said of jihadists.
“I would say though anyone who has been fighting in the Middle East are battle-hardened, they’ve got an ideology as have ISIS and if they are returning to Australia they’ve got to present a risk.”
Originally published as Record detection of undesirables at the borders to exploit and attack