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The Albanian is facing a series of charges ranging from extortion of immigrants to using false documents...
An unbelievable story, but one that seems to have been unraveled in detail by British authorities. It concerns an Albanian who, for 23 years, had used a false identity, even managing to integrate into the structures of anti-migration law enforcement.
Investigations revealed that he was an illegal immigrant who used his position to steal money from migrants arriving in the UK in small boats.
It concerns Besmir Matera, from Albania, who is facing justice in the United Kingdom. Along with him in the dock are 4 other immigration officers. Following an investigation by the Ministry of the Interior, 5 immigration officers have been charged with conspiracy to commit theft.
They are suspected of stealing money from migrants when they arrived in the UK, after being rescued from boats in the Channel between 2021 and 2022.
Matera, 36, is also accused of illegally entering the UK between July 2003 and March 2004 by giving a false name, date of birth and nationality in an asylum application.
He is also accused of possessing forged passports between 2011 and 2022 and a forged driving license between 2018 and 2022.
According to British media, Matera entered the United Kingdom on a school trip when he was 14 years old and was later reported missing in Brighton after his Albanian peers had returned home.
He reportedly told authorities he was from Kosovo.
The five accused of stealing from immigrants are Matera, from Reigate, Surrey; Lee-Ann Evanson, 42, from Bracknell, Berks; John Bernthal, 53, from Welling, south-east London; Ben Edwardes, 45, from Bexleyheath, south-east London; and Jack Mitchell, 33, from Dover, Kent.
A sixth officer, David Grundy, 43, from Croydon, south London, is charged alongside them with concealing, disguising, converting, transferring or removing criminal property between August 2021 and November 2022.
The six defendants appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Thursday.
Prosecutor Rosalind Earis told the court that “this case relates to an investigation by Home Office anti-corruption investigators into the theft by immigration officers of property belonging to migrants arriving at Dover between August 2021 and November 2022.”
"At the time of these offences, these defendants were colleagues working in a clandestine response team of immigration enforcement operations, dealing with migrants arriving in small boats across the Channel. The Crown Court alleges that they conspired together to steal money from migrants in small boats."
Earis said many of the migrants came to the UK with “relatively large” sums of money. “When the defendants became aware of this, they worked together to get that money out of the cells and divide it up,” she said, adding that “the conversion of criminal property is about getting that money elsewhere.”
The defendants were granted bail and told not to contact six prosecution witnesses ahead of a plea hearing and trial preparation at Southwark Crown Court on February 26.
A Home Office spokesman had previously said that “these are extremely worrying allegations and it is right that the criminal proceedings should now continue their course.”
"When this information came to light, all six of these individuals were immediately suspended. We expect all of our officers to meet the highest standards. When these standards are violated, we will take action without hesitation," he said.
The years 2020 and 2021 saw 8,466 and 28,526 migrants cross the Channel respectively. The following year was a record for crossings, with 45,774 reaching the UK before the number fell to 29,437 in 2023. /Adapted from The Telegraph /
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