Home Office Investigates Pakistani College Scam

An investigation led by the Home Office is underway, involving a Pakistani gang that is alleged to have pocketed millions of pounds by enrolling hundreds upon hundreds of men for a bogus UK college.

One of the men that is thought to have helped plan out the whole scam, Mir Ahmad, was arrested late last week. Some sources say that the man is also linked back to two murders in Pakistan as well.

Many of the men paid upwards of £1,000 to the Pakistani gang to get admitted into the sham college. Others paid £2,500 for fake diplomas, attendance records and degrees. This scam allowed the "students" that signed up for it to extend their stay in Britain and allowed the fraudsters to make almost £2 million in less than two years.

A lot of the students of this so called college came from North West Frontier province of Pakistan. Eight terror suspects were arrested just last month in Manchester and Liverpool in a college that consisted of three small classrooms with three teachers for 1,797 students.

The college was first set up in 2006 and sold places to about 1,143 students. The college was taken off the government register of educational institutions last summer. However, the creators have since set up other colleges around the UK.

The UK Border Agency, just last month, introduced new stricter rules on the admission of international students. This was all in an effort to help crack down on these bogus colleges. The UK Border Agency said that before they tightened controls almost 4,000 UK institutions were bringing in international students. Now only around 1,500 are bringing in international students.

For more information visit: www.homeoffice.gov.uk