#1070 UK Officer Fired for putting wife on, "No-Fly" List

Posted February 03, 2011 05:29:56 PM by treelaw45.

#1070 UK Officer Fired for putting wife on, “No-Fly” List

Thanks to the TI Deb for putting this up. The abuses of absolute power over others. -Peter

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/02/officer-fired-wife-no-fly-list/

UK immigration officer fired for putting wife on `no-fly’ list

February 3rd, 2011 / Raw Story

Woman stuck for three years in Pakistan

Ever since anti-terrorist “no-fly” lists were implemented in the years
following the 9/11 attacks, critics have aired concerns about people
being unjustly denied the ability to fly, and about the prospect of
government agents abusing the ability to ground travelers.

Now a revelation from the British government suggests those fears aren’t
unfounded.

According to the Home Office, the department in charge of internal
security in the UK, an immigration officer decided to get rid of his
wife by placing her on a “no-fly” list.

The Daily Mirror reported
<http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2011/01/30/immigration-officer\
-sacked-for-putting-wife-he-didn-t-like-on-terror-watch-list-115875-2288\
4828/> that the officer’s wife traveled to Pakistan to visit relatives,
but when she arrived at the airport to come home to Britain, she was
told she could not board the plane and officials would not reveal
why.The woman ended up stranded in Pakistan for three years as a result,
the Daily Mail reported
<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1351937/Immigration-officer-fir\
ed-putting-wife-list-terrorists-stop-flying-home.html> .

“She obviously thought her husband, being an immigration officer,
would be able to find out what was going on,” a source inside the
immigration office told the Mirror. “Little did she know it was him who
had put her on the list. By all accounts he then had the time of his
life.”

What’s more, Home Office officials didn’t discover the fraudulent
listing until the immigration agent, whom the British government didn’t
name, was put up for promotion and a review of his work uncovered his
wife’s name on a no-fly list.

The officer confessed to altering the list and was fired for “gross
misconduct,” the Home Office stated.

He reportedly worked at the immigration bureau’s head office near
London, where he was part of a group responsible for updating government
security lists.

A Home Office spokesman said the British government takes all
allegations of misconduct seriously.

“On the extremely rare occasions where this occurs, the strongest action
is taken,” the spokesman said.