Hundreds of Birmingham Airport passengers arrested each year - here’s why

The rate of airport arrests in Birmingham is second-highest in the country - more than Heathrow and Gatwick, two of the biggest airports in the UK.

Not everyone passing through the airport in Birmingham have holiday and sunny beaches on their mind since the biggest cause of arrests at the airport was warrant-related.

Between 2019 to 2021, 659 people were arrested at the Birmingham Airport for reasons varying from drunk and disorderly to assault to other serious offences, according to data analysis by Bounce. Apart from taking unruly passengers into custody, the police were also able to pin down some high-profile criminals at Birmingham Airport.

Drug boss and other arrests

It was a movie-like scenario when crime boss Thomas Kavanagh aka The Bomber was arrested in 2019 as he returned to Birmingham after a family holiday in Mexico. He thought he could walk out of the airport like all the other holidaymakers returning home, but authorities were waiting to nab him. The National Crime Agency (NCA) had estimated that his drug ring - the Kinahan Cartel - brought drugs worth more than £30 million into the UK.

The drug kingpin, who lived in Tamworth - was sentenced to more than two decades, and he isn’t the only one. Two of his accomplices were also caught and jailed - making the streets of West Midlands safer.

In another incident, a man was sentenced for trying to smuggle heroin worth almost £1m through Birmingham Airport in May 2022. National Crime Agency investigators questioned Mohammed Uzair Rashid in November 2021 when he arrived from Sialkot, Pakistan via Dubai. Almost 18 kilos of high-strength heroin was found in his baggage. While he initially tried to deny this, he eventually pleaded guilty. He has been jailed for nine years.

Not all those stopped by the police at the airport are done so for crimes as serious as these. A Sandwell man in May 2022 was fined £1,000 for being drunk onboard a flight while flying from Turkey to Birmingham. He was charged with boarding an aircraft while drunk.

Reason for arrests in Birmingham airport

Themost common offences that led to people being arrested at the airport in Birmingham range from drunk and disorderly to more serious ones.

Here are the top reasons :why people were arrested at Birmingham airport:

1. Warrant-related arrests

2. Assault and theft-related offences

3. Drunk and disorderly

4. Standard recall to prison/revocation of prison license

Compared to Birmingham, Doncaster Sheffield is much smaller and yet, it has the highest rate of airport arrests. The top reasons for arrests there are shoplifting, theft, and assault without injury. Heathrow is the busiest airport in the country, but the rate of arrests there is less than Birmingham. The most common reason for arrests there is failure to show up at the police station or court. Assault is a common offence in all three airports.

The rate of arrests at Birmingham Airport is 36.61 per million passengers - the second highest in the country, with it being the UK’s the seventh biggest airport. There were 120 arrests in 2021, 154 arrests in 2020 and 385 arrests in 2019 in Birmingham.

Arrests at other UK airports

Doncaster Sheffield Airport has the highest arrest rate on this list. Just over 2 million passengers flew to or from Doncaster Sheffield between 2019-2021, and 98 passengers were arrested at the airport. The most common offences at Doncaster Sheffield Airport included shoplifting, theft, and assault without injury.

Birmingham Airport has the second-highest arrest rate on this list. There were 659 arrests recorded from 2019 to 2021, and 18 million passengers, equating to a rate of 36.61 arrests per million passengers. The most common arrest offences here were warrant-related arrests and assault and theft-related offences were the next most common.

Leeds Bradford Airport saw a total of 172 arrests made over the years 2019 to 2021. With just shy of 4 million passengers, Leeds Bradford earns an arrest per million passenger rate of 31.37. The most common offence at Leeds Bradford Airport relates to violence against another person, followed by miscellaneous crimes against society, and fraud.

Heathrow airport has the most arrests in sheer numbers between 2019-2021 with 3,262 arrests. Between 2019-2021, the most common reasons for arrest at Heathrow Airport included failure to surrender to police, or failure to appear in court bail at the appointed time. Assault causing actual bodily harm was also common across all years.

Gatwick has second highest total arrests with 1,510 arrests between 2019-21.

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