Ringleaders of Sham Marriage Gang Which Paid British Women To Wed Foreigners Are jJailed For Total Of 13 Years

Ringleaders of a sham marriage gang which arrange fake weddings for foreign men who wanted to gain British citizenship have been jailed.

Ibrahim Mahter was one of the ringleaders of a sham marriage scam and helped organise at least seven fake weddings. He has been jailed for four years 

Ibrahim Mahter, 29, and Abdulgani Makrani, 66, organised at least seven fake marriages for men from Pakistan and India, offering women up to £8,000 to take a foreign husband. 

Nimisha Gosai, Kubrah Saiyed and Naima Makda - girlfriend of Mahter - acted as 'stooge wives' for the lucrative scam, which was run from a base in Leicester. 

Judge Robert Brown jailed all five and told them they had 'total disrespect' for both the institution of marriage and the UK's immigration laws. 

Abdulgani Makrani (top) was jailed for three and a half years, Kubrah Saiyed (centre) and Naima Makda (bottom) were jailed for two years for their roles and are pictured leaving Leicester Crown Court during the trial.

 

The court heard how Mahter and Makrani offered British women up to £8,000 for helping foreign men who wanted British citizenship. 

They were caught after a woman told police that she was forced into a marriage.

All five defendants were charged with conspiracy to facilitate a breach of UK immigration law, between November 2005 and October 2012. 

Judge Brown said: 'I'm quite satisfied that the sentences in all your cases must be sentences of immediate custody.

'You showed a total disrespect for the institution of marriage and the UK immigration laws.

'There is widespread concern about this type of offending.

Gosai admitted her role in the scam and the other four were convicted by a jury after trial. 

During the trial, Gary Short, prosecuting, said: 'This case is about the highly lucrative and very secretive world of the sham marriage.'

Mahter was jailed for four years and his barrister described him as a man with 'limited influence, limited ability and limited intellect'. 

 Makrani, who has mental health problems, was jailed for three-and-a-half years.

The three women were given shorter sentences 

Makda, 28, and Saiyed, 27, were each jailed for two-and-a-half years. 

Gosai was jailed for 14 months and the court heard she was involved in a marriage that never went ahead.  Her lawyer, Michael Garvey, said: 'She was a stooge wife and had no further role in planning these matters.

Abdulgani Makrani (left) was jailed for three and a half years, Kubrah Saiyed (centre) and Naima Makda (right) were jailed for two years for their roles and are pictured leaving Leicester Crown Court during the trial

'No actual marriage followed through.

'She admitted everything. She realised she was involved in matters she didn't really want to be involved in and she took steps to ensure nothing further happened.'

Another defendant, Syed Mehtab, 36, from Uxbridge, London, was also found guilty of being involved in the conspiracy by the trial jury, and is due to be sentenced on January 19.

Chief registrar Kevin Lewis said they were seeing up to 50 sham marriages in the Leicester area each year.

He told the BBC: 'It is a growing crime affecting the whole country, and it is important that we see it and stop it.' - Dailymail reportage.

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