E-Paper
Woman jailed for operating bogus marriages scam in UK
A woman believed to have made up to 1 million pounds arranging bogus marriages for Indians in the UK was jailed for 10 years.
A woman believed to have made up to 1 million pounds (US$1.8 million; euro1.5 million) arranging bogus marriages for Indians seeking a new life in Britain was jailed for 10 years on Monday.
Jaswinder Gill, 42, of Hayes in west London, was convicted last month on two counts of conspiring to assist unlawful entry into Britain, one of actually doing so and another of plotting to pervert the course of justice.
Prosecutors said Gill lured young British women with promises of lucrative modeling contracts. Instead, they were tricked into marrying Indian men desperate to live in Britain. Gill wept at Isleworth Crown Court in London on Monday as Judge Sam Kathkuda told her she was a "complete and total alien to the truth."
"Facilitating illegal entry to this country in breach of immigration controls is a serious offense which calls for an immediate custodial sentence," the judge said.
"Such an offense involves careful planning and therefore the sentence must ... contain a deterrent element to discourage others from following your example."
Gill's husband Dharsham, 40, was jailed for six years after pleading guilty on two counts of conspiring to arrange illegal entry into Britain.
Two other men, Fasil Rashid, 31, and Ahmed Zubair, 20, both from west London, were jailed for four years and 12 months respectively for their part in the scam; they had recruited young women and driven them to their weddings.
A fourth man, Akash Khanna, 22, of Heston, west of London, who admitted conspiring to assist unlawful immigration by forging utility bills and bank statements, received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years.
In one case, a woman was flown to India for what she thought was a photo shoot _ but the "elaborate set" turned out to be the venue for her marriage to a complete stranger, they told the court. Another woman who tried to back out at the last minute was threatened with rape if she did not comply, prosecutors said. Police said that 250,000 pounds (US$450,000; euro375,000) in ill-gotten gains was chaneled through just one of Gill's bank accounts, while another 77,000 (US$138,000; euro115,000) went through another account in her husband's name.
