An Indian national working as a legal advisor in Hayes has been arrested and jailed by UK immigration officers.
The 41-year-old Ravi Gupta was arrested by a UK Border Agency (UKBA) team in November 2010. But last week he received a jail sentence of four and a half years for his leading role in a serious UK immigration scam.
Gupta was an accredited immigration law advisor. However, he was found to be supplying false documentation in order to help his clients gain UK visas illegally. He charged around £5,000 for each application, which would include faked letters, education certificates and payslips in order to increase the likelihood of the individual being granted access to Britain.
Chris Foster, from the UKBA immigration crime team, commented: “Gupta ran a sophisticated and lucrative scam, designed to help people who would otherwise have no right to be here stay in the UK.
“I am delighted that we have been able to bring him to justice, along with a number of people who knowingly benefited from his deception.”
The criminal admitted 14 charges of assisting illegal immigration and a further charge of obtaining leave to remain in the UK by deception. Mr Foster added: “His guilty pleas are an indication of the level of professionalism of my team in combating this type of crime and we are determined to continue tackling organised abuse of our immigration laws.”
The judge who issued sentencing recommended that Gupta be deported from the country at the end of his jail term.