A new people-smuggling route to the UK via Ireland has been set up to dodge tighter cross-Channel security raising fears today it is the new 'back door to Britain'.

Migrants are paying at least £10,000 for new EU passports before being flown from Paris to Dublin on the promise identity checks are far laxer there than at Gatwick, Heathrow or Dover.

They then travel by car over the UK's open border into Northern Ireland, take the ferry from Belfast to Glasgow and then the final leg to London by road to start their new life in Britain.

A brazen people-smuggler making a fortune from the scam has said the 'Irish route' is 'a guaranteed way to get into the UK'.

MPs have told MailOnline that Britain must shut it down immediately, demand stricter searches for 'fake papers' in Ireland and introduce a tightly controlled visa system for EU visitors after Brexit in March 2019.

Tory Nigel Evans said: ‘The British government have got to make absolutely certain that when people come into the UK from Ireland proper identification has got to be shown. There cannot be a back door into the UK.’

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is also worried and said at a Brexit conference last year: 'You're going to get people [coming] in here. Let's be honest about it. Wouldn't you be an awful eejit if you were trying to get into the EU and you didn't [try the route]?'.

A new people-smuggling route to Britain via Ireland costs £10,000 and includes a new EU passport and a flight to Ireland before safe passage to the UK

One Iranian illegal immigrant called Hamid (pictured in a hooded top) has done the journey and told the BBC he was 'not worried' about being caught because of the security in Ireland

British MPs have said any route for illegal immigrants into Britain via Dublin or Ireland's ports must be closed in Ireland and in France.

May faces Brexiteer backlash over Irish border 'backstop' plan Theresa May (pictured at PMQs today) is making a bid to break the deadlock in negotiations by proposing a compromise designed to guarantee a soft Irish border Theresa May is facing a Brexiteer backlash today over her Irish border backstop plans amid fears they will leave the UK tied to the EU 'indefinitely'. The Prime Minister is making a bid to break the deadlock in negotiations by proposing a compromise designed to guarantee a soft Irish border. It moots extending the period when the UK aligns with EU rules in order to give more time for smooth customs arrangement to be put in place. However, a note understood to have been circulated to the Brexit War Cabinet on the blueprint has sparked fears that the extension could go on for ever. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson (pictured in Whitehall yesterday) is among the senior ministers on the Brexit War Cabinet The document apparently does not include an end date, merely stating that it will finish when the customs systems are ready. Ministers have been scrambling to find a way to avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic. Brussels has been demanding a backstop customs arrangement that would essentially draw a new border in the Irish sea - something Mrs May has said the UK will never accept. The Cabinet signed off the principle of a 'backstop' plan that would maintain alignment with EU rules beyond 2020 last month. But the PM previously insisted any extension on customs would only be for a short period. The Cabinet sub-committee on Brexit is due to hold its latest meeting tomorrow - although customs plans are not thought to be on the agenda. Advertisement

Mr Evans said he believed the post-Brexit visa regime would allow EU citizens free access to visit the UK.

He added: ‘But we must absolutely close down any routes that could lead to uncontrolled immigration into the UK,’ he added. ‘We need to work with the Irish government because they should be concerned about any illegal immigration.’

Tory MP Peter Bone said illegal immigration routes could only be closed down by tackling ‘opportunist’ trafficking gangs who spotted loopholes in the borders.

‘It looks like these people are being trafficked by gangs,’ he told MailOnline. ‘Most of them will have fake papers.

‘What should happen is the National Crime Agency will target the gangs. One it has become clear it is happening it is easy to take down the gangs.

‘You don’t solve these problems by having lots of checks on the border.

‘The way of disrupting trafficking is all intelligence led.

‘It is not like walking down the street and tackling a burglary.’

One Iranian illegal immigrant called Hamid has done the journey and said he was 'not worried' about being caught because of the security in Ireland.

His safe passage to Britain cost him £10,000 and a genuine Greek passport adapted to include his photograph was only checked once in Dublin and never again.

He told BBC South-East, who have investigated the route, that police and border officials appear to have been focussing on their efforts on the Calais and Dover areas.

Describing what happened he said: 'When I got on the plane I was not worried.

'When we arrived in Dublin, I went through passport control - I passed through the checks and was able to leave.

'This route from Dublin is still fresh and the police do not focus on it as they do at Gatwick or Heathrow'.

Former director general of immigration enforcement Dave Wood said the investigation had revealed a huge gap in security.

He said: 'If there are weaknesses at Irish ports or Irish airports, they will exploit them and use them, because once you're into Ireland, effectively you're into the UK.

'There's nothing stopping people once you're in Ireland travelling north to Northern Ireland and then to the wider UK'.

The border between the Republic and Northern Ireland has been open and without checks since the Good Friday Agreement meaning anyone is free to travel between the two countries

Former Immigration Minister Damian Green, who was one of Theresa May's most trusted advisers, says there can be no hard border between Ireland and the UK post-Brexit.

He added, however, that they 'have to get those arrangements right'.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The UK and Irish governments work closely on border security. Our existing joint programme of work with Ireland includes investment in border procedures, increased data sharing and use of passenger data'.

Rachid Redouane launched the London Bridge attack with two other jihadis - but had got back to Britain after being deported having married an Irish woman

There have been concerns that 'backdoor terrorists' could use Ireland to get to Britain after one of the London Bridge attackers was deported to Morocco only to return to the UK via Ireland.

Rachid Redouane, 32, was first recorded being in Dublin in 2012 where he married Charisse O'Leary, 38, who is originally from the UK.

Before he launched his attack with two other jihadis he lived at an apartment block in Rathmines, south Dublin, with Ms O'Leary.

After four years of marriage he was then able to return to the UK legally because a legal loophole and within a year had launched the deadly attack on London Bridge and inside Borough Market.

In 2011 Ireland adopted an EU directive that allows citizens from outside the EU to travel freely between Britain and Ireland if they marry an EU citizen.

A common travel area exists between Ireland and the UK meaning that there are no passport checks.

There are growing concerns that the rule is allowing terrorists into Britain via Ireland.

A security source told the Irish Mirror: 'Their main aim is to get a GNIB or FAM (EU identity card). Once they have that they can move freely to the UK.

'They often have an address in Ireland which they do not use but it takes the suspicion off them when they are living in Britain as Ireland is official their country of residence.

'They are calling them "backdoor terrorists" or sleepers and that's a fair description'.