.Fake colleges let 'Pakistani suspects' into UK
LONDON (AFP) — Pakistani fraudsters set up a network of fake colleges which helped thousands of Pakistani nationals enter Britain on student visas, the Times reported on Thursday.
The students at 11 bogus colleges included eight of the 10 suspects arrested last month in a terror probe in northwest England, the newspaper said.
It reported that one college sold hundreds of places to men from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, where fighting is raging between Taliban militants and the Pakistani army.
The three Pakistani businessmen operating the scam charged at least 1,000 pounds for admission places after creating a fictional university to issue degrees, the Times said.
One of the businessmen has been linked to two murders in Pakistan, it said, adding that the man was arrested on Wednesday, after the Times gave the Home Office a dossier implicating two of the colleges.
The Times said the scam exploited lax controls on student visas in Britain which are being tightened in the wake of the Pakistanis' terror probe arrests last month.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the arrests were linked to a "major terrorist plot." None of the men were eventually charged with a criminal offence, but they face deportation.
The newspaper said eight of the suspects enrolled for 11 months at the Manchester College of Professional Studies, which issued hundreds of diplomas and degrees and stated that students had impeccable attendance records.
In reality, the college, set up in 2006, was a "front that provided cover for students to do whatever they wanted in Britain," the Times said.
Its founders claimed it was linked to "Greenford University" and "Blackpool University" in Dublin. Neither university exists.
Nevertheless the 'universities' accredited the Manchester college with an array of undergraduate and postgraduate honours courses which the small three-classroom college was incapable of teaching, the Times said.
At one point, the Manchester college had 1,797 students on its books.
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas told the Times that the information it had provided "has been passed on to the UK Border Agency, which is investigating."
Google
The students at 11 bogus colleges included eight of the 10 suspects arrested last month in a terror probe in northwest England, the newspaper said.
It reported that one college sold hundreds of places to men from Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, where fighting is raging between Taliban militants and the Pakistani army.
The three Pakistani businessmen operating the scam charged at least 1,000 pounds for admission places after creating a fictional university to issue degrees, the Times said.
One of the businessmen has been linked to two murders in Pakistan, it said, adding that the man was arrested on Wednesday, after the Times gave the Home Office a dossier implicating two of the colleges.
The Times said the scam exploited lax controls on student visas in Britain which are being tightened in the wake of the Pakistanis' terror probe arrests last month.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the arrests were linked to a "major terrorist plot." None of the men were eventually charged with a criminal offence, but they face deportation.
The newspaper said eight of the suspects enrolled for 11 months at the Manchester College of Professional Studies, which issued hundreds of diplomas and degrees and stated that students had impeccable attendance records.
In reality, the college, set up in 2006, was a "front that provided cover for students to do whatever they wanted in Britain," the Times said.
Its founders claimed it was linked to "Greenford University" and "Blackpool University" in Dublin. Neither university exists.
Nevertheless the 'universities' accredited the Manchester college with an array of undergraduate and postgraduate honours courses which the small three-classroom college was incapable of teaching, the Times said.
At one point, the Manchester college had 1,797 students on its books.
Immigration Minister Phil Woolas told the Times that the information it had provided "has been passed on to the UK Border Agency, which is investigating."
posted by madtom at 9:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home