London — Nineteen people have been arrested in raids targeting a suspected immigration scam where people are brought from India to Britain as religious ministers and then disappear.
The Home Office said the raids were “part of an ongoing criminal investigation into the Khalsa Missionary Society,” a Sikh religious and cultural centre based in Manchester.
Officers visited and searched 15 addresses across England in Southall and Hounslow in west London, Slough, Birmingham, Southampton, Luton and Leicester on Tuesday.
“The investigation is focused on the sponsoring of Indian nationals to work at the society as ministers of religion, under the Tier 2 and Tier 5 migrant workers system,” the Home Office said.
Tier 2 deals with foreign nationals with a job offer that cannot be filled by a settled worker, while Tier 5 has provisions for temporary religious workers.
Separate to the criminal investigation, a further nine people encountered during the raids were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences, including overstaying their visas.
The Home Office said steps would be taken to remove any offenders from Britain.
“This is a complex operation linked to suspected immigration crime that targeted several locations across the UK,” said Nick Wood from the Home Office criminal investigations team.
“Our investigation will continue with the evidence we have seized.”
Several people were apprehended in September in a first wave of arrests.
A LUTON woman has been arrested as part of a series of nationwide raids by the Home Office targeting immigration fraud.
The 25-year-old was apprehended yesterday (January 21) following a criminal investigation into the Khalsa Missionary Society in Cheetham Road, Manchester.
The on-going investigation is focused on the sponsoring of Indian nationals to work at the society as Ministers of Religion, under the Tier 2 and Tier 5 migrant workers system.
Ten people were arrested on suspicion of obtaining leave by deception, contrary to Section 24 of the 1971 Immigration Act.
They are now being questioned at police stations across the UK, and all the addresses visited are being searched.
A further nine people encountered during the raids this morning were arrested for immigration offences, including overstaying their visas.
The nine are unconnected to the criminal investigation and steps will now be taken to remove them from the UK
Three separate cash seizures were also made and are now subject to investigation.
Nick Wood, from the Home Office Criminal Investigations team, said: “This is a complex operation linked to suspected immigration crime that targeted several locations across the UK.
“Our investigation will continue with the evidence we have seized.”
Others arrested in the raids are:
• A 22 year-old woman at an address in Slough
• Two women aged 26 and 27 at an address in Slough
• A 44 year-old woman at an address in Slough
• A 46 year-old man from an address in Southall
• A 26 year-old woman at an address in Southall
• A 28 year-old woman at an address in Hounslow
• A 42 year-old man at an address in Leicester
• A 30-year-old woman at an address in Southampton
On its website, the Khalsa Missionary Society says it works “to facilitate religious preachers, providing (a) platform to Sikh religious workers from around the world to register them as religious professionals”.
Source: AFP