British detectives fear legions of foreign gangsters have a stranglehold over Reading's violent criminal underworld

Karl Plunkett:

And privately, frustrated police hold the Immigration Service responsible for the takeover - claiming the agency has repeatedly refused to deport scores of dangerous villains.

The truth about those who control the local drug scene came to light during Operation Falcon, set up to combat the "men of violence" after the shocking abduction and murder of schoolgirl Mary Ann Leneghan nearly 12 months ago.

The "grossly understaffed" Falcon has made more than 1,000 arrests, at least 80 of whom were illegal immigrants heavily involved in drug dealing and controlling prostitution. Officers have also taken 310kg of class A drugs off the streets, and seized £250,000 in cash and assets from convicted criminals.

In an Operation Falcon briefing document seen by The Chronicle, a senior police officer revealed: "I estimate that the majority of drug related crime in Reading is committed by persons who have entered the country illegally.

"As police we try to crack down, but we get no support from the Immigration Service.

"A massive immigration crackdown is required in Reading to remove these people and eradicate them from the criminal fraternity."

Describing the Immigration Service as being in "meltdown", Reading East MP Rob Wilson, whose constituency covers some of the town's most notorious haunts for drugs and prostitution, said: "The service is understaffed, overstretched and it's focusing on the wrong areas.

"There are violent criminals on our streets that should not be in the country, let alone in our community."

The report identifies a "whole raft" of illegal immigrants currently in British jails, who police say are being ignored by the Immigration Service - leaving them free to return to their lives of crime, many to Reading's seedy drugs underworld.

The report concludes: "If we were given proper funding and resources to tackle this problem a real difference could be made, and I have no doubt that lives would be saved.

"The Immigration Service needs to work with us not against us to remove people who are overstayers, who have entered the country illegally, or commit crime."

Mr Wilson said: "The police are struggling to deal with a system where they arrest somebody, put them in prison, and the Immigration Service cannot be bothered to track these people and deport them at the end of their prison sentences."

Police have identified one telling loophole because illegal immigrants cannot be deported if they do not have a passport. So many of them - particularly Kenyans, Nigerians and Jamaicans - routinely dump their passports or any form of identification.

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