Hundreds of suspected war criminals discovered in UK It has fuelled concerns that Britain is seen as a safe haven for those wanted for crimes against humanity. Many of those hiding in the UK come from countries such as Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Rwanda, Serbia, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Kevin Laue, of Redress, a charity campaigning to prevent genocide, said: "The police need more resources to investigate these crimes because it's difficult to investigate them. That, in turn, requires more political will and commitment at the higher level for them to be given the resources to properly investigate. Michael McCann, the Labour MP and chairman of a cross-party parliamentary group to prevent genocide, said the figures revealed the need for greater Government transparency on the issue. "The organisation in the Home Office that used to deal with this - the UKBA (UK Border Agency) - was a basket case," he told the BBC. It had failed on so many different levels I've lost count. I have deep concerns that the Home Office isn't being as forthright as it could be and I think we should be drilling down into these cases in order to give the public of our country that security. The latest figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, found that in 15 months since last January, the Home Office researched nearly 800 cases where individuals were suspected of war crimes and crimes against humanity. It made "adverse recommendations" against 99 people who had applied for British citizenship, asylum or leave to remain in the UK. A further 16 war crimes suspects had applied to enter the UK and were refused. Of the 99 suspects, three were deported last year, 20 were refused asylum and 46 had their citizenship bids turned down but are likely to have remained in the UK. The fate of the remaining suspects is unknown. Prosecutions against suspects in the UK are also notoriously hard to mount. Scotland Yard said a total of 56 people in the UK are currently subject to war crimes inquiries, although only nine cases were passed on to them by the Home Office. Dr James Smith, director of Aegis, a charity campaigning against genocide, said: "If extradition fails for whatever reason, we have a duty to prosecute in this country and now there is a law or statute to enable those prosecutions to go ahead." Beatha Uwazaninka, a Rwandan genocide survivor, told the BBC: "They should be sent where they committed the crime to be tried there. That would mean so much for people who have gone through genocide. A Home Office spokesman said: "The Government is determined that the UK should not become a refuge for war criminals. Anyone accused of these crimes should be put on trial in their home country and we will always seek to return them to face justice. Rwandans in UK suspected of war crimes Five Rwandans who have lived in the UK for more than a decade were arrested in May on suspicion of being involved in their country's 1994 genocide, involving ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus, during which 800,000 people were murdered. Left to right: Vincent Bajinya, Celestin Ugirashebuja and Emmanuel Nteziryayo (AFP) The arrested men were named by Rwandan prosecutors as Vincent Bajinya, 52, a doctor, Celestin Ugirashebuja, 60, who was working as a care worker, Charles Munyaneza, 55, Emmanuel Nteziryayo, 60, and Celestin Mutabaruka, 57. Charles Munyaneza (Ian Miles) Earlier this year, Mohamed Salim was exposed as having admitted to being involved in genocide in his native Sudan. In an anonymous interview to the BBC in 2008, Salim, 27, said: "Whenever we go into a village and find resistance, we kill everyone. Most were civilians. Most were women. Innocent people running out and being killed - including children. Last year an immigration tribunal found he was guilty of crimes against humanity after he gave media interviews but the judge ruled he must be allowed to stay in Britain because his life could be at risk if he returned to his home country. In 2011, pensioner Alexander Huryn, of Fareham, Hants, was questioned by Scotland Yard after it emerged he was a Nazi guard at a Polish labour camp. It is understood no further action was taken against him. Huryn, 90, who is still believed to be living in a retirement home, said at the time: "I do feel bad about what we had to do - I didn't like it, but I did nothing wrong at all." In March last year it emerged a former torturer and bodyguard in Robert Mugabe's regime had been working as a carer at The Priory clinic without a visa. A court heard that before coming to Britain in 2000 on a six - month visa Phillip Machemedze, 47, had been a bodyguard to a senior minister as part of President Mugabe's feared Central Intelligence Organisation. He once broke a victim's jaw with a pair of pliers and shocked another with electric cables, the court heard. He applied for asylum in 2010 and was allowed to stay on the basis that he faced torture if returned to his homeland.