Immigration enforcement have made arrests in connection with a suspected criminal network believed to be behind dozens of fake asylum claims from people pretending to be gay. It follows a BBC investigation earlier this year, which revealed that law firms and advisers were helping migrants pose as gay in an effort to get asylum. Those targeted by Home Office immigration enforcement officers this morning are accused of charging migrants up to £4,500 for fabricated evidence, including staged photographs and fake documents.
They are thought to have aided dozens of asylum claims from Bangladeshi men, claiming they would be in fear for their lives if they returned home. Two people were arrested at addresses in London this morning on suspicion of fraud and immigration offences, with Home Office officers also seizing phones, jewellery and thousands of pounds in cash. A third person was arrested on suspicion of being in the country illegally.
Chris Foster, a regional lead for criminal investigations at the Home Office, said the fake claims were connected to a Bangladeshi community LGBT organisation called Apanjon, which is based in Whitechapel, east London. He said asylum caseworkers had initially spotted patterns in suspicious claims, which raised concerns about the group, and that immigration officers had been investigating for several months. "We've got some intelligence that they can provide fake letters and documents, and they could charge anywhere between £1,000 and £4,500," Foster said.
"It could be letters of support from Apanjon, it could be staged photographs, suggesting that these people are gay, it could be letters from people claiming to be in a friendship or a sexual relationship - [a] same-sex relationship - as the claimants." More than 100 asylum claims linked to the criminal network are being reviewed by the Home Office. Foster said some of the fake asylum applications would have "undoubtedly" been granted. Immigration judges have previously criticised evidence from Apanjon as unreliable or not credible and found that an applicant who claimed to have attended the group's events had submitted staged photographs.
The Home Office said the group would often vouch for men who claimed asylum on the basis they were gay only after having initially been refused on political grounds. In one case, a man didn't raise his sexuality until nine years after his original claim. The group is accused of using the same tactics as those pushed by advisers exposed in the BBC's investigation earlier this year.
A Home Office spokesperson said it was continuing to review asylum claims linked to that reporting, which led to two arrests in May. In the BBC report, published in April, an adviser called Tanisa Khan told an undercover reporter she could provide a "comprehensive package", including photographs at gay clubs and other supporting evidence. She was linked to a community group called Worcester LGBT, which she told the reporter they should attend in order to add to evidence for his fake claim.
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