19 suspects held in UK

London, UK: Nineteen people were arrested on Tuesday in a series of raids with regard to a suspected immigration scam. It is being suspected that Indians are brought to the UK as Sikh religious preachers, who later disappear.

Sixteen addresses across the UK were raided as part of the ongoing investigation involving Manchester-based Khalsa Missionary Society, a Sikh religious and cultural centre, the Birmingham Mail reported.

Ten people were arrested on the suspicion of obtaining leave by deception during the early morning swoops in the Home Office or interior ministry investigation that was supported by officers from the National Crime Agency, it said.

They are being questioned in police stations across the UK and all the addresses are being searched.

Addresses are now also being searched in Birmingham, Slough, Southall, Southampton, Luton, Hounslow and Leicester.

The probe is focusing on the sponsoring of Indians to work at the society as ministers of religion, under the Tier 2 and Tier 5 migrant workers system, the Birmingham Mail reported.

Nine more people were arrested for immigration offences, including overstaying their visa duration, it said. Three separate cash seizures were also made.

Source: The Tribune