Four Bradford people jailed for their part in sham weddings (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Four Bradford people jailed for their part in sham weddings

6:26pm Friday 18th January 2013 in News By Dolores Cowburn, Bradford Chief Reporter

Three Bradford women, including two mothers, who posed as bogus brides during a massive international sham marriage operation stretching from Yorkshire to Pakistan were jailed yesterday.

They were among a gang of 18 men and women involved in the scam who were jailed for a total of nearly 28 years at Sheffield Crown Court.

The defendants included mother-of-two Louise Samantha Kelly, 27, of Broadstone Way, Home Wood, her partner Mohammed Yassar, 22, of the same address, Sabiha Bano Khan, 46, of Heath Terrace, Bradford Moor, and mother-of-two Farah Khan, 43, of Sewell Road, Laisterdyke, were imprisoned for eight months each for admitting assisting in unlawful immigration.

The court had heard Kelly flew to Pakistan with Yassar to take part in a sham marriage in December 2010.

Mastermind,Talib Hussain, 42, flew Eastern European women to Islamabad for bogus weddings with Pakistani men, who could then apply to live in the UK under European open borders laws, the court had heard. He was jailed for six years.

Helped by his former wife Rahina Zaman, who was jailed for two and a half years, he orchestrated the “very large, well organised, professional operation” from his suburban semi-detached house in Rotherham.