UK Border Agency Busts Illegal Emigrant For Identity Theft

www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk

An illegal emigrant who had been living in Southhall has now been arrested and jailed for two years after stealing a mans identity and pretending to be him for more than a decade.

The thirty-seven year old Indian national, Sukhjiwan Singh Burham of Erica Close, was finally arrested by officers from the UK Border Agency after a raid that took place in Southhall on April 2, 2009. The man claimed that he was a British national and was going by the name Avtar Singh. After a search was done on the man's house, officers found a marriage certificate, as well as a drivers license that was done using that name as well. At the same time, the UK Border Agency also found letters and other documentation that showed his true name.

After doing checks on the name Avtar Singh, the UK Border Agency found out that the "real" Avtar Singh was a British citizen that was living over in Canada. The Indian national then admitted that he had entered the UK illegally way back in 1996. He had paid £3,000 for an illegally obtained UK passport.

He later used that passport to facilitate the entry of his wife, who he married in India back in 2003. He also used the passport to bring over three children. On June 16, Burham pleaded guilty to fraud, deception, as well as a series of other immigration offenses. The main was sentenced to two and a half years in jail with an automatic recommendation that he be deported back to India.

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