Croydon Crown Court heard how a gang including a Home Office worker allegedly conceived a plot to allow illegal immigrants to stay in the UK. 61-year-old Home Office worker, Shamsu Iqbal was allegedly the anchor of the group who used his position to distort documents. Investigators identified 437 cases for the period of over 5 years.
Jurors heard how Iqbal changed the records of migrants who had permission to stay in the UK, giving their identities to those who were in Britain illegally.
Co-accused, who are all lawyers, Sheikh Muhammad Usman, 45, Mohammad Khawar Aftab Hussain, 49, and Mohammad Ibrahim Ali, 47, allegedly contacted the Home Office to “straighten out” the status of “impostors” who took on someone else's identity.
Prosecutor Alexandra Felix told the court, “The result would be the impostor would end up with documents in their own names which enable them to be in the UK should they ever be challenged when they are not properly entitled to be here. This case is about these defendants engaging in conduct as part of an agreement which enables people who are not entitled to be in the UK to stay in the UK. Mr Iqbal is the lynchpin. It is his ability to access Home Office records that really enabled it.”
The four accused deny charges of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration. Mohammad Ibrahim Ali also faces a count of unlawful possession of two British and 11 Bangladeshi passports associated to someone else – a charge which he also denies.
The trial continues.
