Sham marriage gang from South Yorkshire jailed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-30380433

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Four members of a South Yorkshire-based gang that set up sham marriages between Pakistani grooms and British brides have been jailed.

Masoud Rasab, 38, organised three sham wedding ceremonies in the East Midlands between November 2011 and June 2012.

Rasab, along with Umair Hussain, and brides Sabrina Khan and Alisha Mahmood, were all found guilty of conspiracy to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law at Sheffield Crown Court.

A fifth is to be sentenced on Thursday.

Keeley Cox, from Rawmarsh, Rotherham, pleaded guilty to the same charge.

'Dishonesty and greed'

Pakistani national Hussain, 28, married Khan, 29, at Leicester Register Office in November 2011, a month before his student visa was due to expire.

Cox, along with Mahmood, 21, were both brides in sham marriages at Nottingham Register Office in April and June 2012.

Rasab, of Firth Park Road, Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, was sentenced to four years in prison.

Khan, of Wade Close, Rotherham, was jailed for two years and six months.

Hussain, of Scott Road, Grimesthorpe, Sheffield, and Mahmood, of Avon Mount, Masbrough, Rotherham, were each handed 21-month jail terms.

All four were sentenced at the same court on Monday after a three-week trial following a Home Office investigation.

Investigator Mark Bates said: "This was a persistent attempt to trample over the UK's immigration laws by a gang driven by dishonesty and greed.

"We will not tolerate sham marriage abuse and this group will now pay the price for their criminality."