A UK Immigration Officer is... An Illegal Immigrant

It was reported late yesterday that an immigration officer at Luton airport had been arrested and charged with possessing 13 fake passports.

Anthony Quarco, a 44 year old half-Liberian and half-Ghanaian man living in Croydon, south London, was found with forged passports and documents from Kenya, Ghana, France and Switzerland.

It is suspected he was using the documents to sneak illegal immigrants into the country, and he has been charged with 15 counts under the Identity Cards Act relating to these accusations.

It gets better than this, however. Quarco, who is also a church minister and a Special Constable with the Metropolitan Police, may well have entered Britain illegally himself, arriving on a false passport to claim asylum in 1995.

Of course, he denies any wrongdoing, claiming that the fake passports found in his possession were from members of his congregation who feared being found with them.

Surely that would make him guilty of dereliction of duty, would it not? I would hope an immigration officer didn't feel helping illegal immigrants evade the authorities was part of his job.

Just in case anyone is worried, the UK Border Agency are on hand to reassure us:

'It would be inappropriate to comment as this investigation is ongoing. The UK Border Agency expects the highest levels of integrity from its staff and the majority of our staff carry out their roles with professionalism and integrity.

Any allegations of corruption and misconduct are thoroughly investigated and we will take action swiftly where we find members of staff who we believe have acted inappropriately.'

My one and only concern at this point is just how an illegal immigrant, let alone such a dishonest one, was hired as an immigration officer in the first place. I know the answer, of course - but it still makes no sense to me.

I shall sleep safely tonight knowing that the borders of this country are well staffed and defended by those who recently crossed them.