Border staff have been under pressure to speed up queues at airports The head of the UK border force has been suspended by the Home Office following allegations staff were told to relax some identity checks.
Brodie Clark also sits on the board of the UK Border Agency, of which the border force is part. Four other UKBA officials have also been suspended.The Home Office is investigating and has made no further comment.
Staff working for the UK border force are responsible for checking passports and conducting immigration raids.
BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds reported that sources said Mr Clark had told Home Office officials that he had agreed to "open up the borders" at certain times in ways ministers would "not have agreed with".
Another senior UKBA official, Graham Kyle, who is director of operations at Heathrow Airport, is among the four others suspended
'Incredulity and fury' It is understood staff may have been told not to scan biometric passports at certain times. The passports contain a digital image of the holder's face which can be used to compare with the printed version and check the passport has not been forged.
It is also thought checks may not have been made against Home Office watch lists.
Home Secretary Theresa May's reaction to the developments was "incredulity and fury", the source told our correspondent.
Mr Clark was at first offered the opportunity of retiring by the UK Border Agency, but following the intervention of the Home Office was suspended pending an investigation.
Two investigations have been ordered. Dave Wood, who heads the enforcement and crime group at the UKBA, will carry out a two-week inquiry designed to discover to what extent checks were scaled down and what the security implications might have been.
Ex-MI6 official Mike Anderson, director general of the strategy, immigration and international group at the Home Office, will investigate wider issues relating to the performance of UKBA.
Our correspondent said one Home Office source said the agency had become a "massive problem".
The revelations follow the strong criticism earlier by the Home Affairs Select Committee that 124,000 deportation cases had been shelved by the UKBA.
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