An Iranian man who was arrested in connection to the alleged terror plot on the Israeli embassy in London entered the UK illegally and was living in accommodation provided by the taxpayer, a report has claimed.
Earlier this month, police revealed that five Iranian nationals were arrested under suspicion of planning a terror attack, which later reports indicated was allegedly intended against the embassy for Israel in London.
According to a report from the Mail on Sunday, one of those arrested, a 40-year-old man from Iran, has been living in a taxpayer funded home in Rochdale managed by Serco for the government for over half a year.
The paper said that it is understood that he arrived in the UK illegally after crossing the English Channel from the beaches of Calais in France before claiming asylum in Britain.
Terrorism expert at Buckingham University Anthony Glees told the MoS: “The Calais boat route self-evidently presents a clear and present danger to national security.
“I have always said migrants should be met by warships, not lifeboats. A dedicated agent of a hostile state will use this route to come into the country.”
Neighbours told the paper that the Rochdale property had been run by contracting firm Serco since around 2015. A former asylum seeker inhabitant said that migrants living in the house did not pay any bills or rent as it was provided by Serco.
A report last month claimed that Serco, which provides asylum services for the government, had begun contacting landlords to expand the use of private homes across the country to house migrants, as the government seeks to reduce the use of the more expensive hotel accommodations.
However, concerns have been raised about the safety of localities and the further strain it will place on the housing market.
Despite vows from Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer to put an end to the migrant crisis in the Channel, a record number of crossings have taken place under the Labour government with over 11,000 already reaching British shores this year.
There have long been fears that terror networks would use the migrant route to sneak would be terrorists into the UK.
A 2022 report from the union that represents the British Border Force warned that the migrant crisis, which sees mostly military age men being allowed into the country, posed a “significant risk” to UK national security.
Another report from the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration that year found that the screening process for illegal boat migrants was “inexcusably awful” and that that border officials frequently failed to carry out basic due diligence, such as recording the names and fingerprints of migrants who enter illegally.
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