BRITISH immigration officers and some Conservative politicians have been agitating for a visa requirement to be introduced for all Jamaicans visiting the United Kingdom (UK).

This comes in the wake of comments from the British High Commission in Kingston, first reported in this newspaper, that dozens of passengers on every flight from Jamaica to the UK are drug mules.

The claims, although disputed by UK Customs and Excise, have provoked an uproar in Britain. The Immigration Services’ Union has called for visas to be imposed on all Jamaicans, not just those seeking to work or remain in the UK, saying this would make it easier to weed out drug couriers. This view was supported by former senior customs officer, David Raynes, who said that the situation was apparently so serious that “It was time to think the unthinkable, and the unthinkable is visas”.

Conservative Party spokesman, Henry Macrory, told the Observer that “some Conservative MPs have said that visas might be the answer to the drug mule problem”. He added that Conservative MPs have previously expressed support for the idea after an outbreak of violence linked to Jamaican Yardie gangs in the mid-1990s.

The British High Commission in Kingston said it was not aware of any changes to the visa regime but added that the issue had now been referred to the Home Office in London for consideration.

The Home Office, however, refused to confirm or deny this. Home Office spokesman Matthew Brooke told the Observer that “visa regimes are imposed in response to immigration and other security concerns and the position for Jamaica is kept under constant surveillance”.

However, he said this was “no different from other countries”.

Jamaican nationals, in common with most Commonwealth citizens, do not require visas to visit or study in the UK. However, visa regimes have been imposed on some Commonwealth countries, such as India and Pakistan, after massive numbers of people entered the UK as visitors and stayed to work.

Just before Christmas last year, British immigration officials held a total of 41 Jamaicans carrying drugs in two mass arrests at Heathrow and Gatwick airports.

Former Home Office minister, Anne Widdecombe, who is on the right-wing of the Conservative Party, said she did not necessarily support visas.

“The only thing that is a deterrent to a drug smuggler is the likelihood of being caught and getting a stiff sentence if you are caught,” Widdecombe told the Observer.

“If someone is carrying drugs, the fact that they come over with a visa is neither here nor there”.

She added that sentences in the UK for drug smuggling were already stiff, so what was required was more resources for police and customs to make sure more people get caught.

Macrory agreed, saying “The Conservative Party hasn’t officially commented on the visa issue, but we have said there clearly needed to be a lot of work done in intelligence gathering and co-operation to stop the situation getting any worse”.