Rock’s digital security system sends warning beyond Gibraltar, Parliament told

Wanted individuals and people entering Gibraltar unlawfully should know they risk detection by live facial recognition cameras and face arrest, Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told Parliament on Friday, as he said awareness of the surveillance network was spreading beyond the Rock.

Mr Picardo said the cameras had already identified wanted individuals and recently detected a man declared to be illegally in Spain, adding that Gibraltar’s security system could draw on databases beyond its own records.

“It is now known that if you're wanted and you come into Gibraltar, you're going to be picked up,” he said.

Alongside that warning, the Chief Minster also stressed Gibraltar’s long-standing approach to unlawful migration, saying anyone illegally in Gibraltar faced imprisonment and deportation.

“If you are illegally in Gibraltar, you are arrested and you go to jail,” he said.

“You don't get benefits.”

“You don't get a cushy number.”

“You don't get anything from the Government other than two meals a day, maybe three meals a day, and a warm shower.”

“And then we deport you to where you have come from.”

Mr Picardo was responding to questions from the Leader of the Opposition, Keith Azopardi, who said the Opposition shared the position on unlawful migration and would adopt the same approach in government.

Mr Azopardi nonetheless questioned whether the removal of immigration controls at the border required additional resources in this context, pressing Mr Picardo on the cameras and cooperation with Spanish authorities.

He asked whether changes to resources or monitoring were envisaged given increased fluidity at the border and reports of attempted migrant landings in the Campo following the Ceuta crisis, including in La Línea.

Mr Picardo said changes had already been implemented, highlighting the facial recognition network and the recent case involving the man identified as being illegally in Spain.

“His identity was on the system, and therefore he was picked up trying to come into Gibraltar immediately,” he said.

The Chief Minister did not refer to this in Parliament but the man in question was arrested and has since appeared before the Magistrates Court. He remains in detention.

The cameras form part of wider security arrangements at entry points, supported by intelligence sharing with local, regional and international partners, Parliament was told.

Maritime surveillance capabilities also involved British Forces Gibraltar and the Gibraltar Port Authority.

Mr Azopardi asked whether the cameras were distributed around Gibraltar or concentrated at strategic locations, and whether they could identify only people recorded on Gibraltar’s own databases.

He questioned how the system accessed information, given that Gibraltar did not have access to the Schengen Information System.

Mr Picardo declined to disclose operational details publicly but said the cameras’ reach extended beyond local records.

“Because you don't have access to the Schengen database, it doesn't mean that you don't have access to other international databases or other national databases on the basis of agreements,” he said, referring again to the recent detention of a migrant unlawfully in Gibraltar.

“Somebody who had been declared illegal in Spain was flagged by our live facial recognition cameras. That's not the Gibraltar system, so there are other systems that we have access to.”

He offered Opposition representatives a briefing on the cameras’ capabilities, issues associated with their use and how these were being resolved.

Mr Azopardi also challenged the Government’s confidence in cooperation with Spain, citing the absence of notification before a Guardia Civil vessel entered Gibraltar port waters on September 4.

Mr Picardo acknowledged that Gibraltar had received no advance notification on that occasion and initially did not know the nature of the operation.

But he said the Guardia Civil vessel “was not from the Algeciras area” and that even the Guardia Civil in the Campo area had been unaware of the cross-Strait chase, which unfolded against the backdrop of the early days of the Ceuta crisis and “the paranoia at that time”.

He said the incident appeared to involve suspected human traffickers fleeing after an attempted or completed operation into Spain.

“And it was in getting away from the authorities after having carried out that operation that the human traffickers sought refuge in Gibraltar and were chased into Gibraltar,” the Chief Minister said.

“The message that we send is very clear to the Spanish authorities or the authorities of any other state in this region, that we're ready to cooperate and we're ready to work together with them.”

The RGP had no suspicion that any illegal migrants had remained in Gibraltar following the incident, Mr Picardo added.

Gibraltar had subsequently stressed the need for cooperation, he said, pointing to the treaty, administrative arrangements and working groups bringing together Gibraltar and Spanish law enforcement officers.

“Gibraltar remains at high level of readiness to respond and act in light of the ongoing migrant crisis in Ceuta and is determined to improve communications between jurisdictions,” the Chief Minister said.

Mr Azopardi stressed that cooperation required notification and that Gibraltar authorities must exercise jurisdiction within Gibraltar.

“I agree, and there can be no other interpretation,” Mr Picardo said.

On planned joint maritime patrols with Spanish authorities, the Chief Minister said officials were considering vessel types and acquisition timescales but could not provide a start date.

He said the patrols would cover British Gibraltar territorial waters, Spanish waters and international waters.