Illegals Ran Forged Document Ring

Three illegal immigrants from India are on trial for a massive fraud involving entry visas and British passports.

The trio, a man and his two wives, took cash from applicants abroad and then submitted an application for entry or asylum. They had created all the documents necessary themselves, enabling thousands to cheat border controls and making them hundreds of thousands of pounds.

These fake documents included CVs, degree certificates, references, bank statements and identity documents.

Between October 2006 and May 2008 they submitted 980 applications to the Home Office, all for people who are unsuitable for entry either in terms of background or lack of ability to support themselves financially.

The UK Border Agency say that this is the most false applications received from a single source - but that did not stop them rubber stamping every single one.

The scam became so successful that they started offering their services on a 'no win, no fee' basis - so confident were they that the UK Border Agency were either incapable of or unwilling to do their job properly.

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Francis Sheridan, prosecuting, said the "systematic attack" opened the door to hundreds of unsuitable migrants without means to support themselves leaving the taxpayer to foot the bill.

Isleworth Crown Court in west London heard that ringleader Jatinder Sharma, 44, had pleaded guilty to a raft of immigration offences.

His alleged co-conspirators, Neelam Sharma, 39, and Rakhi Shahi, 32 - both of whom are married to Sharma - are facing a similar range of charges at trial. They are also both accused of entering and remaining in Britain illegally.

"Between them they submitted the largest number of fraudulent visa applications ever received by the Home Office from one source, making this the biggest immigration scam ever seen in this country," said Mr Sheridan.

"Applicants with humble backgrounds found themselves in possession of degrees, masters degrees, post-graduate qualifications and diplomas within a matter of months.

"They achieved them by paying for it, thereby avoiding the rather troublesome step of actually having to attend a college and study.

"Shahi was so confident of her ability to cheat the system, she even started offering her services on a no win, no fee basis."

Mr Sheridan said when police raided the home the trio shared in Southall, they discovered some 90,000 pages of documents, including 980 visa application files. Of these 117 were carefully analysed, with only four not raising significant concerns about their legitimacy.

Sharma allegedly told a potential client: "They [the Home Office] don't even bother to look at your documents. They don't care what documents you have sent. They just stamp them blindly."

"They have made a fortune, there are no bones about that, they have made a small fortune at the hands of the Home Office," added Mr Sheridan.