8:20am Saturday 4th September 2010
By Marc Meneaud
Vicars in the Bradford district are being given guidance on how to spot bogus marriages.
The UK Border Agency is working with clergy from Bradford diocese after a spate of fake weddings were exposed during immigration raids.
The Home Office has revealed that specialist UKBA immigration crime teams, working with police, prosecuted more than 2,200 people for immigration crimes, including human trafficking, fraud and drug smuggling, last year.
One of the high-profile cases featured a group of Nigerian men and women involved in sham marriages with Slovakians, centred on churches in Bradford.
A spokesman for the UKBA said: “The Agency continues to work with the Anglican Church to help members of the clergy identify potential sham marriages and to alert us to weddings where we may need to take action.”
The bogus weddings took place last year in Cleckheaton and Scholes to allow the Nigerians to remain in the UK as spouses of EU citizens.
It was believed thousands of pounds were being extorted from Nigerian men desperate to stay in the UK.
Investigations by the UKBA’s Immigration Crime Team led to suspects being filmed at church wedding interviews.
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