Exclusive: Undercover gardaí scour trains and buses for immigrants

Undercover gardaí and immigration officials are targeting bus and rail services used by suspected illegal immigrants to get into the country via the border.

Operation Sonnet, which was set up over 10 years ago, is a Garda initiative that attempts to stop people crossing the border from the North who do not have the right documentation.

Statistics released to the Mail show how there were days of action, on average, every two weeks this year with gardaí, immigration officials as well as members of the PSNI conducting checks on busy motorways on the border.

Gardaí and immigration staff are going undercover and using covert tactics to gather intelligence on suspected human traffickers who are being paid thousands to help smuggle vulnerable people here.

A total of 10 ‘days of action’ under Operation Sonnet have taken place this year. In total, 107 people were refused entry to Ireland and were denied leave to land. These people either had no documentation or the wrong papers with them.

Instead, those who had come from Great Britain were put on a ferry to Holyhead. Those with addresses in the North were sent to Belfast.

A spokesman for the gardaí said that the latest iteration of Operation Sonnet started in October 2023 and involved ‘conducting a number of covert and overt operations to detect the illegal arrivals of persons from the UK, via the Irish border’.

They added: ‘The overt part of Operation Sonnet takes place on the M1 north of Dundalk, with large-scale checkpoints conducted on each day of action. In addition, GNIB [Garda National Immigration Bureau] have performed a number of overt operations, which provide intelligence to identify further targeted activities on Operation Sonnet.

‘To date a total of 199 persons have been detected illegal in the State, having entering the State via Northern Ireland. These persons detected in buses and taxis have been refused leave to land removed from the State. Of those 199 people, 169 were returned to the UK by ferry, 27 were returned to Northern Ireland by train/bus, two were detained in Cloverhill Prison pending removal from the State on foot of valid deportation orders and one was returned to Brussels by air – craft from Dublin Airport.’

Undercover operations surrounding Sonnet are clandestine by nature and the Irish Daily Mail has been asked not to share specifics, as to do so might hinder future investigations. However, the Mail has learned that by using these covert mechanisms, officers have garnered information about how crimi – nal gangs are attempting to bring in people illegally.

Bus, rail and ferry connections are also being targeted by gardaí and immigration officials as prime locations for intelligence gathering. The Border Management Unit (BMU) of the Department of Justice has responsibility for frontline immigration duties at Dublin Airport only. Other airports and other ports of entry, including the land bor der with the North, are the responsibility of the GNIB.

A statement from the Department of Justice said that there is extensive engagement and cooperation at all levels between department officials and their Home Office counterparts in the UK, as well as significant operational cooperation between the gardaí, UK Border Force, UK policing services and the PSNI.

Justice Minister Helen McEntee said: ‘I am advised by the Garda Commissioner, that the Gardaí conducted 11 days of action. A further ten days of action have taken place this year, up to 20 May.

‘These days of action incorporated large-scale check – points resulting in the inspection of 172 vehicles and the detection of a total of 107 people entering the State without the requisite visas or identity documents.

‘During these operations, people entering Ireland illegally were refused leave to land and returned to the UK by ferry from Dublin Port to Holyhead. Where it was confirmed that they were resident in Northern Ireland, they were returned to Belfast. I am informed that, in addition to these overt opera – tions, there are also regular covert Operation Sonnet deployments, which provide the intelligence to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of the Operation.

‘For security reasons and to protect the integrity of the immigration system, both I and my department do not comment on operational procedures of this element.’

In February of this year, Operation Sonnet check – points were carried on the M1 motorway on four separate days. A total of 47 buses travelling to Dublin were stopped and immigration checks were carried out in respect of all passengers on board.

From the 47 buses, a total of 25 people were detected entering the State illegally, without the relevant visas or travel documents.

The Department of Justice is in the middle of transferring many of the border duties to civil servants in a bid to free up gardaí to do more frontline work on immigration. Gardaí have also been carrying out inspections of cross-border travel as part of operations targeting organised crime. These operations involve checking the pass – ports and identity documents of people who have come to Belfast and travelled south into the Republic