Three Arrested After Raid on Gang Accused of Helping Migrants Pretend to Be Gay to Get Asylum

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.

Those targeted by Home Office immigration enforcement officers on Tuesday 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 on Tuesday 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.

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.

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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.

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A conviction for asylum fraud carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison.