VIDEO: Drugs, weapons ... and fighting birds – the battle against smugglers at Leeds Bradford Airport

They’re all items that were seized from passengers at Leeds Bradford Airport last year and it’s an eclectic list that lends weight to Kevin Parsons’ assertion that smugglers are going to ever-more imaginative lengths to sneak illicit goods into the UK.

Mr Parsons is the interim assistant director for Border Force in Yorkshire – the organisation responsible for securing the UK border by carrying out immigration and customs controls for people and goods entering the country.

“I’ve been in this work long enough that little surprises me,” he says. “The smuggler can be very ingenious in the way that they conceal different types of goods.”

Our exclusive pictures – taken this week – show that imitation weapons, counterfeit DVDs and large quantities of non-duty paid tobacco are among the day-to-day goods seized and stored in the airport’s lock-ups.

Border Force does not release statistics on confiscations at the country’s ports – officials believe that could assist those seeking to circumvent the law.

But as one the 20 busiest airports in the country and one of the fastest growing, Leeds Bradford faces inevitable challenges.

In May last year it celebrated reaching the milestone of processing three million passengers in a year for the first time.

Mr Parsons said: “Leeds Bradford is a growing regional airport with links to Asia and to a lot of the international airports on the continent, so the risks are quite high both in terms of importation of goods and people smuggling. We have to be vigilant.”

Formed in March 2012, Border Force carries out law enforcement for the Home Office. Its officers check the immigration status of people arriving in and departing the UK, search baggage, gather intelligence and alert the police and security services to people of interest.

A keen eye and a sense for the unusual are key attributes.

“We’ve had some unusual seizures at Leeds Bradford,” Mr Parsons said.