Immigration Invasion Roundup, 20 August 2008

Berkshire — Invaders jailed for tampering with IDs. Two illegal invaders who attempted to dupe authorities by convincing them they were entitled to be in the country have been jailed.

South African Sbusiso Moyana and Algerian Salah Mostefai were both arrested when immigration officers raided a house in Priestwood on July 24. Moyana, 27, used a coloured photocopy to tamper with dates on documents in his passport so he would not have to return home. Mostefai used a false French passport to work in this country illegally, Reading Crown Court heard.

Moyana was jailed for six months for possession of a false identification document with intent. Prosecutor John Hodge said he came to the UK on a holiday working visa on July 2004 with a genuine South African passport.

Mostefai, of no fixed abode, legitimately came to the UK in 2006 on his Algerian passport but asked a friend called Rasheed to give him the identification documents needed to get a passport in the name of Rasheed.

Mostefai paid £300 to a man in Paddington and was handed the false passport 20 minutes later. With that document he was able to get employment as a cleaner through an agency.

Mostefai was jailed for 12 months for possession of a false identification document and was given a further three months for each of the two counts of fraud, which will be served concurrently to each other and on top of the 12 months. He will then be deported back to Algeria.

Middlesborough — Illegal invaders in custody after raid. Five illegal invaders received an unexpected wake-up call when immigration officers raided a Middlesborough home. Five Indian men, still dressed in their pyjamas, were questioned by officers who checked identity documents.

They discovered that the men, aged between 22 and 52, were illegal invaders. Officials established that none of them had the right to work in the UK.

Suffolk — Two illegal invaders jailed for Cannabis factory. Two illegal invaders who operated sophisticated cannabis factories in houses in Suffolk have each been jailed for 28 months.

Sentencing the men in separate hearings at Ipswich Crown Court, Recorder Martyn Levett commented on the growing number of cannabis factories being set up around the county and said deterrent sentences would need to be passed to discourage offenders.

Before the court yesterday were Binh Van Tran, 22, of The Street, Stonham Aspal and Vui Nguyen, 29 of Beatty Road, Ipswich who both admitted being involved in the production of cannabis.

Richard Kelly, prosecuting, said police officers who executed a search warrant at a three-bedroom former council house in Beatty Road in May this year discovered 304 mature cannabis plants which would have yielded 87.5kgs of skunk with a street value of up to £500,000.

The living room of the rented property and the three bedrooms had all been converted and adapted for the cultivation of cannabis. Fertilisers and chemicals were also found in a bathroom and a handwritten note was found at the premises giving detailed instructions on how to care for the cannabis plants at each stage of the growth process.

Slough – Indian restaurant in Burnham has been fined for employing illegal invaders. Unique Spice, in Burnham High Street, was raided by immigration officers on March 11 after they received a tip-off that foreign nationals might be working there illegally.

It is the first business in Buckinghamshire to have been fined for employing illegal invaders. Two Bangladeshi men without permission to work in the UK were arrested during the raid.

The restaurant owner has agreed to pay a fine of £5,000 to the new UK Border Agency (UKBA) after accepting that he did not carry out reasonable right-to-work checks on the men.

Nottingham — Illegal invaders jailed after drugs raid. An illegal invader caught with thousands of pounds worth of cannabis claimed he came to Nottingham to “water vegetables.”

Hung Nguyen was arrested when police raided a large cannabis factory at a house in St Ann’s on April Fool’s Day. The electricity had been bypassed and a system installed to nurture the drug in four rooms of the house in Britten Gardens, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Examination of the plants revealed the crop would have harvested 16.41kg of flowering tops. Wholesale value was estimated at £64,240, and £164,100 if sold individually in street deals.

Judge Tony Mitchell jailed Nguyen for 16 months with the recommendation that he be deported back to Vietnam at the end of his sentence.

North Staffordshire — Iranian Invader charged with forgery. An illegal Iranian invader, Hemdad Shekhepure, has appeared before North Staffordshire Magistrates’ Court accused of using an identity card and Home Office letter which he knew or believed to be false on January 18, 2004.

He is further charged that between April 21, 2006, and January 31, 2007, he again used an identity card and a Home Office letter which he knew or believed to be false. In a third matter, Shekhepure is accused that between December 13, 2004, and January 31, 2007, in Newcastle, with a view to obtaining benefit under the Immigration and Asylum Act, he failed to notify a change of circumstances and took up employment.

The defendant will be committed to Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court in September and was conditionally bailed.

Stoke-on-Trent — Invader jailed on deception charges ordered to pay back £1,700. An illegal invader jailed on deception charges has been ordered to pay back £1,700. Invader Faustin Nounga was jailed for 15 months in April after he set up bank accounts in a false name and withdrew thousands of pounds.

The 38-year-old, of Burnaby Road, Tunstall, entered Britain illegally in 2000 from Cameroon, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard. He was jailed in April after he admitted obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception in that he used false documents to gain work at Primebake.

He also admitted obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception, in obtaining services by deception from Lloyds Bank, and obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception from Scottish Widows, in that he took out an insurance policy from Scottish Widows.

The court heard he benefited to the tune of £46,912, but his recoverable assets were £1,700.