Drones and AI have been used to thwart Iranian spies disguised as migrants arriving in the UK via people-smuggling routes controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), it has been reported.
The Home Office has used surveillance watchtowers fitted with the technology in an attempt to prevent the disguised Iranians from entering the country.
Some of those intercepted are suspected of links to Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
Since migrants began crossing the English Channel to Britain in small boats in significant numbers in 2018, more than 30,000 Iranians have arrived.
Iranian-run people-smuggling networks are responsible for transporting regime-linked individuals across Europe and into Britain, Tehran officials told The Telegraph.
Some of these routes running between the Middle East and the English Channel are “owned” by the IRGC, they said.
The IRGC was recently designated a threat to the British state under new anti-terrorism style powers.
Also designated was Harakat Ashab Al Yamin Al Islamiyya, which translates as the Islamic Movement of Companions of the Right, an IRGC-linked group which has claimed responsibility for attacks on Jewish and Iranian opposition targets in the UK and Europe.
Under Britain's National Security (State Threats) Act, anyone operating for the IRGC and involved in acts of sabotage on behalf of designated groups could face life in prison.
An Iranian official said getting operatives into the UK was part of a strategy aimed at potentially destabilising the country.
“At the moment we have people right there in London, revolutionary people who care about the world and the lives of children – they wait for us to tell them what to do,” the official told The Telegraph.
“We have not done that yet, but we can easily make London unsafe for you if we want to. These smuggling routes are more important and useful than the missiles for us – we do not need a missile to target London, it’s easier than that.”
Dr Simon Bennett, director of the Civil Safety and Security Unit in the School of Business at the University of Leicester, said that given the UK recently proscribed the IRGC “it is unsurprising that Iran is hostile to Britain and her interests and territories”.
“The British public can be reassured that Iran and her proxies, including influential supporters of the Iranian regime living in Britain, are being surveilled,” he said.
Hamish Falconer, the UK’s former Middle East minister who is now European Relations Minister, said it was no surprise Iran was targeting the UK.
“I was the Middle East minister for two years and dealt with Iranian representatives for some time, so I wasn’t terribly surprised,” he told the BBC.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Our first priority is national security. There are stringent security checks for small-boat arrivals.
“Those identified as a threat will be detained immediately and we will do everything in our power to remove them at the earliest opportunity.
“On top of these robust processes, we have fast-tracked a change in the law to outlaw support for the IRGC, equipping the police and intelligence service with more powers to disrupt those working on their behalf, and making it easier to prosecute them.”
