Person on no-fly list flown into UK from Afghanistan during evacuation operation, MPs told
A person from Afghanistan on the UK’s no-fly list has been flown into Birmingham as part of the British evacuation operation in a potential security breach, MPs have been told.
The individual, who is not being identified by the government, is understood to have reached UK soil on a British military plane, with officials being alerted “overnight”.
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Race against time to evacuate thousands of Afghans
The “no-fly list” is designed to block individuals who are considered a security threat from reaching the UK.
The government has looked at the case and decided “they are not a person of interest” and no further action will be taken, so the person is free to go.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “An individual was flagged to the Home Office as part of the rigorous checks process, involving the police, security services and others.
However, upon further investigation, they are not a person of interest to the security agencies or law enforcement.”
Tonight’s statement by the Home Office suggests big problems with the no fly list system since they let a flagged individual on the list enter the UK – then apparently later concluded that he should not have been blocked from coming in.
In a sense of the challenge facing British officials as they mount an urgent evacuation effort, the number of “hits” on the list over the past week is more than would normally be expected in a year.
But it is still only a tiny handful compared with the thousands of Afghans the UK has flown to safety from the Taliban, including former interpreters and other staff who risked their lives to support the British military and diplomatic mission in Afghanistan.
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Evacuation ‘down to hours, not weeks’
If any assessment had found that the person did pose a threat, the UK government would not have been able to return them to Afghanistan after Britain suspended flights.
The news of the Birmingham case emerged at a briefing for MPs by ministers and officials.
Opposition MPs worried it could have been a security breach, although government sources said the fact the individual had been identified showed the list is working. They also stressed that people can be flagged on the “no-fly” list for a wide variety of reasons.
British officials at the airport in Kabul are warning of a spike in impersonations, forged documents and forged passports.
Ministers are saying this is why we cannot “open the gates” to allow anyone in without checks.
Sky News understands that the US does not have any such checks, and people will be processed in the US on arrival.
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Will Taliban in power lead to terrorism?
MPs were told today that five people on Britain’s “no-fly list” attempted to leave Afghanistan with UK help. Four of the five were prevented from flying, but one person made it through to Birmingham.
The revelation was made by a senior Border Force official in a call to MPs earlier today. He also said that one more individual was intercepted in Frankfurt, and he was blocked from continuing his journey to the UK though his family were allowed to continue.
This is a significant increase in the number of people on the “no-fly” list trying to gain access to the UK.
Normally from Afghanistan, officials would get one attempt every four or five months – so five red flags in a week is a significant increase.
Kevin Foster, the Home Office minister, told MPs on the call that while the UK must help those under threat from the Taliban, they must be “mindful” of people who pose a threat to the UK.
Ministers are warning against diluting or speeding up checks to get desperate Afghans out of the country as the Defence Secretary Ben Wallace warns the operation on the ground could be over in “hours now, not days”.
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Taliban warns of ‘consequences’
A government spokesperson said: “There are people in Afghanistan who represent a serious threat to national security and public safety.
“That is why thorough checks are taking place by government, our world-class intelligence agencies and others.
“If someone is assessed as presenting as a risk to our country, we will take action.”
British officials said there is a real risk of Islamic State militants seeking to exploit the UK’s emergency scheme designed to help former Afghan interpreters and other local staff who worked for the UK military and diplomats in Afghanistan over the past 20 years.
A huge effort is under way to run security checks on each application, but there is also an urgency to get families on to aircraft before Kabul airport’s evacuation mission is forced to stop – something that could happen imminently.
There is also a concern about Islamic State trying to target British troops conducting the evacuation by inserting a suicide bomber into the chaotic crowds massing outside the airport.
The longer the evacuation continues, the greater the risk, security sources said.
A judo Olympian has said her family is “devastated” after the discovery of body in the search for her missing brother.
Lubjana Piovesana, 28, appealed for help to find her younger sibling, Luis, 26, on Saturday. He had not been seen since the early hours of Friday morning.
A body was found in the River Frome near Napier Road in Eastville, Bristol, at around 6pm today, Avon and Somerset Police said.
Formal identification is yet to take place, the force added.
In a post on Instagram, Ms Piovesana wrote: “Hello everyone, Luis has been found.
“We are completely devastated but he has passed away.
“I am grateful for everyone’s support. And I am so sorry this happened.
“Luis was my little brother and loved by everyone. I wish he could have seen the love from everyone. He will be remembered by us all.”
The post was signed off with a dove emoji.
Luis Piovesana did not have any money or his mobile phone with him when he went missing, police said. Pics: Avon & Somerset Police
Mr Piovesana was last seen at around 3am on Friday at the Eastgate retail park, which is less than a 10-minute walk away from where the body was found.
He had travelled there by taxi from a venue in Little Ann Street, St Jude’s, a 10-minute drive away.
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The 26-year-old’s family spent the weekend searching for him, and asked people to check their sheds and gardens.
His partner, Laurin Bohler, said loved ones had travelled from Birmingham to help.
Mounted officers and police drones were also involved in the investigation.
Ms Piovesana competed for Team GB before switching to the Austrian team, and defeated British competitor Lucy Renshall in the women’s -63kg judo event at the Paris Olympics last year.
A man has been jailed for life for murdering his son’s girlfriend after she returned home from the school run.
Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police were called to an address on Bigyn Road in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire, on 5 July last year.
Sophie Evans, 30, had sustained 72 separate injuries on the outside of the body, “all but three of them new injuries”.
Richard Jones, who is now 50, believed he was “being taken advantage of financially” by Ms Evans and his son, with whom she was in a relationship.
While the purpose of Jones’s visit was “purely normal”, he confronted her on that morning about his suspicions and Ms Evans’s reaction was such that Jones “lost [his] temper”.
He subjected Ms Evans to “gross violence” before ultimately strangling her and leaving the property to run errands, including ordering a new bank card and buying pastries from a bakery.
Richard Jones. Pic: Dyfed-Powys Police
‘Last time on their school run’
During sentencing on Monday, the defendant kept his head bowed for most of the hearing.
He will have to serve at least 20 years behind bars before he can be considered for release by the parole board.
Swansea Crown Court heard Ms Evans was the mother of two young children.
Passing his sentence, Judge Geraint Walters said Ms Evans “had just taken her two children for the last time on their school run” prior to the attack.
“She wasn’t to know that when she parted company with them that morning,” he added.
The court heard the Jones believed he was being defrauded by Ms Evans and his son.
“There is clear evidence, that in the days leading up to this, that you had begun harbouring thoughts that Sophie Evans and your own son were in fact financially scamming you,” he said.
“What precisely brought about that view is difficult to determine.”
Judge Walters said Jones “lost [his] temper when [he] didn’t get the answer that [he] thought [he] deserved”.
He added that, having lost his temper, the defendant “subjected [Ms Evans] to gross violence over a period of time, before you ultimately extinguished her life by strangulation”.
The court was told in evidence that at the time of the attack, Ms Evans was wearing only a bath towel.
‘The rock of our family’
In a victim personal statement, Ms Evans’s sister Kerry Quinlan told the court she was “the rock of our family”.
She said Ms Evans was taken from them in a “senseless and cruel act”.
“Words cannot express fully how much of a loss this has been to her children,” she added.
“When they cry themselves to sleep wanting their mum, she isn’t there and never will be.”
Ms Quinlan added that Jones had “taken everything from us, all in the most despicable way possible”.
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Ms Evans’s partner at the time, and the defendant’s son, Jamie Davies, said in a victim personal statement, read on his behalf, that they had both “trusted” Jones, and that Ms Evans had even been planning the defendant’s 50th birthday.
“The thought of having to live my life without Sophie causes me extreme pain and heartache,” he added.
Prosecuting, Michael Jones KC said the offence was aggravated by the defendant’s previous convictions and the fact Ms Evans was murdered in her home.
In mitigation, David Elias KC said there was a “lack of premeditation”.
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