British secret agency, M16, police proposed £3,000 visa bond against Nigeria – REPORT

A report from a United Kingdom based
journal, University World News, has said
the £3,000 visa pilot scheme against
Nigeria was proposed by the British
intelligence service, MI6 and British police
headquarters at Scotland Yard.
The new UK visa scheme will impose
£3,000 (US$4,740) in charges on
unspecified visa applicants thought to be
‘high risk visitors’ from Nigeria, Ghana,
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.
The Nigerian government has threatened
retaliatory measures if London goes
ahead with the ‘refundable’ but unpopular
visa bond.
The report said there was palpable anger
and disappointment among Nigerians
who have gained admission into British
universities for the upcoming academic
session.
Students already in UK institutions are
also unhappy about a new ‘visa bond’
scheme to be implemented against ‘high
risk’ visitors by the David Cameron’s
administration.
As a precautionary measure, many
parents have instructed Nigerian banks to
suspend, for now, sending tuition and
accommodation fees to British
universities, the report noted.
The report written by Professor Tunde
Fatunde, a Nigerian scholar quoted
diplomatic sources in Abuja, as saying
that both the M16 and the
Scotland Yard, are reportedly worried that
some foreign students who apply for
visas to study in British universities have
developed, in their home countries, ideas
and determination to commit terrorism on
British soil.
The report said, the visa bond is believed
to be a subtle way of ensuring that
students who are labelled as ‘high risk’
know that they will be targets of
intelligence surveillance while they are
studying at British universities.
It quoted a diplomat, who did not want to
be named, as saying that Ghana was
included on the ‘high risk’ country list
because its airport and seaports were
thought to be avenues for Latin American
drug cartels who use some Ghanian
students as drug couriers.
The same diplomat said some students
from Nigeria, Pakistan, India and
Bangladesh had been involved in
terrorism in Britain.
He cited the examples of Umar Farouk
Abdulmuttalab, a Nigerian and former
student of University College London, who
tried to blow up an American plane in
December 2009, and student Michael
Adebolajo, a Nigerian-born Briton, who
recently hacked a British soldier to death.
“The British government is convinced that
the use of visa bond may go a long way
to make Britain safe,” the diplomat said.
The diplomat also revealed that the visa
bonds would be extended to some non-
students thought to be high risk and
hinted that British embassies might
collaborate with local intelligence services
in collecting evidence on some visa
applicants.