The UK’s border police can legally confiscate mobile phones from any passenger entering or leaving the UK - and download any data they like without a warrant.

Police are routinely using counter-terrorism laws to seize phones from those crossing the borders by rail, sea and air, accessing their data and keeping it indefinitely, according to The Telegraph.

The report said police can scour phones for metadata under the Terrorism Act 2000, including call history, contact lists, photos and message recipients - but not the actual content of communications - without prior permission or a warrant.

The newspaper reports that up to 60,000 travellers are "stopped and examined" as they leave or enter the UK, but it isn’t clear how many have their phones confiscated.

I have been lead to believe that the USA has been doing this for years. You sometimes get the stuff back.