Bride and bridegroom held as police raid 'sham' wedding

A BRIDE and bridegroom and two of their wedding guests were arrested yesterday during a raid targeting a suspected sham marriage in South Yorkshire.

The Slovakian "bride", 21, was led away from Sheffield Town Hall in a wedding dress and handcuffs after she attempted to marry a 36-year-old failed asylum seeker from Afghanistan.

He was led out by UK Border Agency (UKBA) officials and police before his "bride" followed, dressed in a floor-length white gown and looking clearly upset. They and two guests were then bundled into waiting police vans and taken for further questioning.

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Det Sgt Alisdair Duncan, who led yesterday's operation, said the raid comes after a summer of intense UKBA activity against suspected sham marriages.

He said: "The message is that we can disrupt these weddings. There are laws there and we're enforcing them. There were quite a few weddings taking place but these have really tailed off now."

The regional director for the UK Border Agency, Jeremy Oppenheim, said: "We will not tolerate immigration abuse and once again our immigration crime teams have shown that they will crack down on those attempting sham marriages.

"Our aim now is to identify the organisers who would seek to profit from this kind of activity."