LED away in cuffs, this woman is accused of helping run a bogus college so illegal immigrants could settle on Tyneside. Task force detectives today smashed the suspected sham college allegedly being used to illegally bring foreign nationals into the region.
Officers from the UK Border Agency’s Immigration Crime Team arrested four senior staff from Castle College in Park Road, Felling, Gateshead, following a series of dawn raids across Tyneside. Investigators believe the directors were using the college as a front to allow foreign nationals to dodge immigration laws. Read more here
Tom B sent this in. "Four senior staff members at a Gateshead college have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating immigration offences, the UK Border Agency said. The agency has suspended the college's licence to enrol overseas students. The agency said the staff arrested were a 33-year-old Bangladeshi man, two men from Pakistan, aged 37 and 41, and a Pakistani woman aged 37. The UK press usually treats the 'students' enrolling at such colleges as 'victims'."
College staff arrested in Gateshead immigration probe BBCFour senior staff members at a Gateshead college have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating immigration offences, the UK Border Agency said.
The four workers, aged 33 to 41, from Castle College, Park Road, Felling, were held after a
"long and complex" investigation, the agency said.
They were arrested on suspicion of using the college to facilitate immigration offences, the agency added.
The agency has suspended the college's licence to enrol overseas students.
A female student at the college who was found to have breached the terms of her visa was also arrested, an agency spokesman said.
A "substantial amount of cash" was seized from a safe at the college, the spokesman added.
The five people were arrested during co-ordinated morning raids in Gateshead and Newcastle.
The agency said the staff arrested were a 33-year-old Bangladeshi man, two men from Pakistan, aged 37 and 41, and a Pakistani woman aged 37.
The agency said its officers were at the site earlier to "advise and assist any genuine students arriving for their studies".
