Yard rounds up foreign thugs for deportation

A pioneering scheme to target foreign offenders has already seized eight people who have been deported from Britain.

The initiative - codenamed Operation Bite - seeks to forcibly expel dangerous foreign nationals who are linked to serious gangland crime.

The pilot scheme run by the Yard is now being extended across the UK after a 100 per cent success rate in deporting criminals.

Those expelled include a Jamaican national who was a known gang member in Southwark - jailed for rape and armed robbery and shot twice, once by a sub-machinegun at Tulse Hill railway station.
Two other Jamaicans, who are twins and gang members, have also been deported for links to gun crime and robberies.

Under the operation police identify the most dangerous individuals involved in crimes such as murder, kidnap, shootings, stabbings, and drugs supply and their names are fast-tracked to the UK Borders Agency.

The agency then has the power to strip the individuals of their right to remain in the country even if they have been granted residency status.

Details of the operation were revealed today as a new crackdown against gangs in London gets under way.

Nine people are already in immigration detention awaiting removal from Britain. The unit has a list of dozens of targets - although police refuse to give precise numbers.

Superintendent Stuart Dark, who is in charge of the operation, said: "While the UK clearly benefits from immigration and the diversity this brings, we target the small minority of individuals who persist in abusing their privilege of residence and whose violent and prolific offending disproportionately harms their local community and puts wider society in fear.

"The individuals we pursue are lightning rods for violence. Our aim is simple, to control and then deport them before they can commit even more serious crimes."

He said that immigration status, whether it was a temporary visa or indefinite leave to remain, was conditional on behaviour and could be revoked at any time.

Mr Dark added: "Our message to such individuals is clear - we will catch up with you in the end."

The eight deported so far also include Ghanaian Frezel Poku, 24, linked to gangs in Croydon, and Jermain Jarrett, 21, a Jamaican who was leader of a Southwark gang. In an unprecedented move, authority was obtained from the Home Secretary to detain Jarrett at 17 - the minimum age is usually 18 - because of the risk he posed.

Others are Omar Wildman, a 22-year-old Jamaican member of a Brixton gang linked to drugs and firearms, and Roosevelt Odigie, a 25-year-old Nigerian, part of a Peckham-based gang.