In March 2009 the quarterly National Asylum Statistics were published and it reported that there were 5,395 foreign national prisoners who had been removed or deported in 2008. The information on the numbers of those who had previously been convicted of firearms offences, or any other offence types, can only be obtained at a disproportionate cost. In order to obtain the full criminal history of such individuals it would be necessary to examine individual case files held by the UK Border Agency and cross-reference that information with police records.