A court jailed an Indian man and two women on Wednesday for providing fake degrees and identities to hundreds of immigrants, in what prosecutors said was the biggest visa scam ever seen in Britain.
A judge sentenced Jatinder Kumar Sharma to seven years behind bars and Rakhi Shahi to eight years for orchestrating the fraud factory that allowed Indian and Pakistani nationals to study and work in Britain.
Another woman, Neelam Shar-ma, was given a four-year jail term after being convicted of handling some of the hundreds of thousands of dollars that poured into the business in Southall, west London.
Jatinda Sharma has been married to Neelam Sharma for nearly 20 years, although a marriage certificate appeared to show he also recently wed Shahi. All three lived together in Southall.
Police suspect the business secured visas for almost 1,000 immigrants over two years, Isleworth Crown Court west of London heard, providing them with fake degree certificates, tax and wage receipts, bank statements and references.
During the month-long trial, prosecutors also alleged that the trio used fake documents to secure themselves visas in Britain, under a scheme designed to allow well-qualified individuals with useful skills to work here.
Prosecutor Francis Sheridan said the case “represents the largest single prosecution of dishonest records ever submitted to the Home Office by an individual business.”
“We believe we have cracked a major international conspiracy to facilitate the entry of illegal immigrants into the UK,” said Tony Smith, regional director of Britain’s Border Agency which manages migration, after the trial.
Police and border agency officials discovered 90,000 documents during a raid on the business last February, as well as passports, 50 different types of headed notepaper and 150 ink stamps used to create fake documents.
Prosecutors said the business, named Univisas, charged clients up to £4,000 (US$6,500) and was so confident of its success that it offered a money-back guarantee.
Judge Richard McGregor-Johnson criticized Home Office and immigration officials for failing to check that documents submitted to support student, skilled migration and other visa applications were bogus.
Shahi was convicted of conspiracy to defraud, handling criminal property and immigration offenses. Sharma pleaded guilty to his role in the business before the trial started.
All three face deportation at the end of their sentences.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not