E-Paper
Illegal Indian immigrant nabbed in SA
An Indian who faked his marriage to a South African woman to gain citizenship will be deported by the end of this month.
An illegal Indian immigrant who faked his marriage to a South African woman to gain citizenship will be deported by the end of this month.
Ankur Mangaldas Patel, 27, was arrested in East London for the third time in two years after he failed to produce a passport on demand.
Patel, who claimed he was married to a South African woman, was unable to provide details of the whereabouts of his wife as required to get of a special permit in his passport.
The arrest has again highlighted the problems that South African immigration authorities are facing with scams of fake marriages that attempt to let illegal migrants to gain South African citizenship.
The home affairs ministry recently launched an intensive campaign to stamp out corruption within its ranks - in terms of which fake marriages were registered of foreign nationals to South African women who had never met their "husbands".
In Patel's case, the woman concerned allegedly colluded with the plan for a fee of 300 rands per month to ensure that when needed she would be present to comply with the "Accompany Spouse Permit" requirements of his passport.
After his initial arrest in April 2002, Patel deposited a repatriation guarantee fee of 8,000 rands and was instructed to leave the country, which he failed to do, disappearing for several months.
Patel was arrested for the second time on Aug 1, 2002. He was in detention pending deportation when on Aug 7 the same year the South African police confirmed that he had escaped from the cell.
Patel's life underground in South Africa lasted just over two years when he was arrested for the third time last week.
At the time of his arrest, police learnt that he had divorced his first wife and was in the process of arranging another marriage to legalise his stay in the country.
Authorities said Patel was now safely behind bars again and would be deported before the end of October.
