23-year jail term for five Indians in UK

[Socialist Christian]

http://sify.com/news/international/fullstory.php?id=13313845

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London: A British Court has sentenced, a five-member gang from North-West London to 23 years imprisonment on charges of smuggling 6000 illegal immigrants, mostly Indians, into the United Kingdom.
The Court was told that the racket appeared to centre on the Indian Consulate in Birmingham with at least one official in the consulate suspected to have paid for the bogus documents.



The five-member gang was headed by one Sarwan Singh. Police surveillance footage showed the alleged suspect meeting the gang's mastermind Deo, in a disguised pub before travelling home.

Sources said three officials of the Indian Consulate have been transferred to India following the unearthing of the illegal immigration racket.

The other key part of the operation was a trade in "recycled" passports, either stolen or bought from a willing seller. The trade routes ran from the Indian sub-continent through the Middle East, Africa and Europe