London:
An Indian-origin couple who are in jail for running an illegal "visa factory" in Southall and helped at least 1,000 illegal immigrants to come to the UK, are now the subject of official moves to confiscate their ill-gotten wealth.
Jatinder Sharma, 44, and Rakhi Shahi, 31, were sentenced to seven and eight years in jail in June 2009.
Now officials are trying to recover at least 600,000 pounds of money they earned as payments from people who wanted to illegally migrate to the UK.
The confiscation operation has been launched in coordination with the police in India, where they allegedly transferred considerable amounts of money gained from their illegal activities.
The couple ran a company called Univisas. They specialised in providing counterfeit documents, qualifications and certificates to support immigration applications.
They were arrested in May 2008 by a specialist team of immigration officers and Metropolitan Police officers.
Raids on their home and business premises in Southall, west London, uncovered thousands of counterfeit documents, stamps used in their production, passports, and thousands of pounds in cash.
The fraud focused on abusing the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme which was designed to enable well qualified individuals with useful skills to work in Britain.
Between October 2006 and May last year, their company UniVisa, which posed as a company helping immigrants with paperwork, submitted 980 applications to the Home Office.
Following their trial, officers located more money and property belonging to the group in India.
At a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Isleworth Crown Court this week, Rakhi Shahi had 107,000 pounds confiscated from her bank accounts.
Jatinder Sharma had 74,000 pounds from his bank accounts confiscated, but the judge also told him to hand over another 417,000 pounds in hidden assets.
If he fails to do so, he faces another four years on his sentence.
Detective Inspector Robert Coxhead from the UK Border Agency's immigration crime team said: "It's clear that these people ran a sophisticated and lucrative international criminal enterprise. By working closely with the Indian police in order to track down their assets, my officers have shown that we will leave no stone unturned in stopping criminals from profiting from their crimes."
Jatinder Sharma, 44, and Rakhi Shahi, 31, were sentenced to seven and eight years in jail in June 2009.
Now officials are trying to recover at least 600,000 pounds of money they earned as payments from people who wanted to illegally migrate to the UK.
The confiscation operation has been launched in coordination with the police in India, where they allegedly transferred considerable amounts of money gained from their illegal activities.
The couple ran a company called Univisas. They specialised in providing counterfeit documents, qualifications and certificates to support immigration applications.
They were arrested in May 2008 by a specialist team of immigration officers and Metropolitan Police officers.
Raids on their home and business premises in Southall, west London, uncovered thousands of counterfeit documents, stamps used in their production, passports, and thousands of pounds in cash.
The fraud focused on abusing the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme which was designed to enable well qualified individuals with useful skills to work in Britain.
Between October 2006 and May last year, their company UniVisa, which posed as a company helping immigrants with paperwork, submitted 980 applications to the Home Office.
Following their trial, officers located more money and property belonging to the group in India.
At a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing at Isleworth Crown Court this week, Rakhi Shahi had 107,000 pounds confiscated from her bank accounts.
Jatinder Sharma had 74,000 pounds from his bank accounts confiscated, but the judge also told him to hand over another 417,000 pounds in hidden assets.
If he fails to do so, he faces another four years on his sentence.
Detective Inspector Robert Coxhead from the UK Border Agency's immigration crime team said: "It's clear that these people ran a sophisticated and lucrative international criminal enterprise. By working closely with the Indian police in order to track down their assets, my officers have shown that we will leave no stone unturned in stopping criminals from profiting from their crimes."
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