The National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC) plays a key role in monitoring passengers travelling in to and out of the UK, cross-referencing airline passenger information with Police and other intelligence databases. But when data matching goes wrong, innocent travellers can find themselves wrongly identified as wanted individuals and arrested at UK airports. Drawing on real cases involving mistaken identity and repeated NBTC alerts, I explain how these errors arise, who may be responsible, and how those subjected to wrongful arrest can challenge the authorities and seek compensation.
What is the National Border Targeting Centre?
The National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC) is an organisation who most people have never heard of – but if you have engaged in international air travel in to or out of the UK, then the organisation will have heard of you. As the NBTC works at that interface where high volumes of computer data meet human brains, the organisation is frequently involved – if not outright responsible for – wrongful arrest incidents at UK airports.
What is the National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC)?
The NBTC is part of Home Office Intelligence, under the management of the Director General of Border Force.
The NBTC is a multi-agency unit ‘hosted’ by the Home Office. It is housed in a Home Office building and uses a Home Office data system, but its approximately 200 staff comprise not only Home Office employees, responsible for immigration and customs matters, but Police Officers and staff responsible for policing matters, and also members of the National Crime Agency (NCA).
How the NBTC Uses Airline Passenger Data
Whenever a person books travel into or out of the UK, the information they provide to the airline is required to be forwarded to the Home Office under paragraph 27B of Schedule 2, Immigration Act 1971. The passenger information which may be required is specified in The Immigration and Police (Passenger, Crew and Service Information) Order 2024 The Home Office then has a statutory duty under Section 36(1) Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 to share the passenger information with the Police for Police purposes and with designated NCA Officers.
How NBTC Alerts Are Generated from Police National Computer Data
Therefore, when the Home Office receives passenger information, it is cross referenced with other data, including data from the Police National Computer (PNC). If a hit or match occurs between the data i.e. there is an apparent match between an incoming/outbound airline passenger and an individual flagged as ‘wanted’ on the PNC, then the Police Unit at the NBTC are responsible for reviewing the matched data against the PNC records and deciding whether to take any further action – such as raising an ‘alert’ with the Police Force local to the airport through which the potentially suspect individual will be travelling.
When NBTC Data Matching Goes Wrong
It is a ‘superpower’ which Border and Customs officials of the pre-computer age could only have dreamt of; however vast amounts of data which can be shared in the blink of an eye, do not necessarily equate to vast amounts of common sense. The NBTC and the Police between them can confuse individuals with similar but distinct personal details – leading to both a serious waste of Police time and the traumatic incarceration of an innocent party.
NBTC Checks Apply to UK Citizens Too
Please also be aware that despite the powers we are discussing originating from legislation with “Immigration” in its title, the same rules also capture all UK citizens travelling for leisure or business purposes.
Life’s a Glitch: Wrongful Arrests Caused by NBTC Alerts
In a week in which another software ‘glitch’ has caused mass cancelation of flights across the UK, it is worth remembering that there are worse ways to lose time in an airport terminal than those caused by flight delays – that is, when you are welcomed off the aeroplane by a squad of Police Officers, often carrying firearms, who have come to arrest you.
Mistaken Identity and Passenger Data-Matching Errors
Examples of passenger data-mismatching errors which have afflicted clients of mine include an individual who was apparently targeted for arrest because he was believed to be the wanted man (actually his own cousin) somehow travelling under an “alias” and another man who has now on no less than 3 occasions been the subject of NBTC ‘alert’ arrests – notwithstanding the fact that although he shares the same first and surname and birthday as a repeat offender, they were born in separate years.
Who Is Responsible for a Wrongful Arrest Caused by an NBTC Alert?
When wrongful arrests occur in situations like this it is commonplace for both the NBTC and the local Police Force to disavow responsibility – the NBTC arguing that they did not actually carry out the arrest/detain the person, whilst the local Police Force maintains its Officers had “reasonable suspicion” because they were entitled to put their trust in the NBTC alert.
Claims Against the Police Following an NBTC Wrongful Arrest
Every case will turn on its own individual facts, but I assure you that there is a way to navigate such dual-denials of liability and chart a path to victory, as my track record of success in such cases, which you can read here on my blog, amply demonstrates.
Wrongly Targeted by the NBTC?
If you have been wrongly targeted by the NBTC, consult me for advice on how to set the record straight – and receive the compensation you deserve.
How you can help
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Contact the Expert Police Misconduct Solicitor
Iain Gould is a solicitor specialising in complaints, claims and civil actions for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment by the police and other state bodies, including claims arising from mistaken identity, incorrect National Border Targeting Centre (NBTC) alerts and wrongful arrests at UK airports.
With over 30 years of experience and a national reputation, he has successfully sued all 43 police forces in England and Wales, challenging abuse of power and securing rightful compensation.
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