Budget airlines a boon for UK crooks on the run

By Andrew Hough

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - British criminals are increasingly using budget airlines to evade capture by fleeing to Europe, a senior English police chief said on Thursday.

Greater extradition powers are needed to combat the trend, said Bernard Hogan-Howe, chief constable of Merseyside, the Northern English metropolitan county which includes Liverpool.

Hogan-Howe called for new laws to allow police to apply for the extradition of suspects wanted for questioning, instead of the present system which only allows people facing charges to be extradited.

Critics have questioned the proposals, saying it could breed laziness among the police and infringe civil liberties.

Hogan-Howe said he was concerned that too many "second division" criminals, benefiting from low-cost travel and relaxed border controls, were "getting away with too much crime".

"I don't think it's acceptable that someone can just travel to another country within Europe and until we get evidence to charge they are safe," he told the BBC.

"Quite often now, criminals aren't that organised but they can spend a small amount on a low-cost airline and they are away and out of our grasp and they may be arranging drug supplies.

"We need to be able to be as flexible as they are."