Monday, July 09, 2007

And don't call them Muslims either

From The Scotsman:

BRITAIN was last night accused of leaving the door open to terrorists after the head of Interpol revealed UK border guards are failing to check would-be immigrants against a global database of terror suspects.

Ronald Noble, the secretary-general of the international police force, said that Britain had failed to use the huge Interpol computer database effectively, which includes information on more than seven million lost or stolen passports.

Mr Noble spoke out as Britain remains at the second-highest terror alert level more than a week after the attacks in London and Glasgow.

He said: "This is something which needs to be given the highest priority now, not something we will get to when we get to it. The same kind of attention should be given to checking passports as is given to checking bags to see if they contain bottled water."

Al-Qaeda training manuals, discovered overseas and in the UK, emphasise the importance of terrorists using stolen or fake documents.

Interpol records show that Switzerland checks the Interpol database 300,000 times a month, while CARICOM countries, the EU-style organisation for the small Caribbean states, uses it 80,000 times a month.

By contrast, Britain, which sees 2.5 million visitors from overseas every month, checks Interpol records just 50 times a month.

Well, if you check you might find out that some doctor who is willing to practice in the UK for less money than a journeyman plumber makes is a suspected terrorist and then the NHS would not make their hiring quota.