Six years for dad who ran immigrants’ sham marriage agency from Rotherham semi

Immigrant Talib Hussain, 42, flew Eastern European women to Islamabad for bogus weddings with Pakistani men, who could then apply to live in the UK under European open borders laws.

Helped by his ex-wife Rahina Zaman, he orchestrated the “very large, well organised, professional operation” from his suburban semi in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Sheffield Crown Court has heard.

More than 60 applications for UK visas were submitted to authorities, accompanied by fake documents and photos of the bogus weddings.

But the UK Border Agency became suspicious when they noticed the same people appeared in many of the photos - and the same clothes were being swapped between brides, grooms and guests to make the pictures look genuine.

Today, Judge Rosalind Coe QC jailed Hussain, saying he was the “hub” of the operation and his house on Broom Grove, Rotherham, was the “engine room”.

Judge Coe said: “This was a very large, well organised, professional operation involving very many people.

“At the very hub of this conspiracy and running the operation was Talib Hussain and others.”

She jailed Zaman for two-and-a-half years.

Amid emotional scenes with many family members in tears in the public gallery, the judge sentenced seven others involved in the operation this morning and will sentence a further nine people later today.

Hussain, who is a Pakistani national, and Zaman, who is British, both admitted conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Prosecutors told the judge that by marrying women from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Britain, the Asian men would have been eligible to move to Europe, and wanted to live in the UK.

But the court heard none of the applications by Pakistani nationals to enter or remain in the UK were successful.

While it was not clear how much Hussain made from pairing up the couples, it was run at “considerable expense”, Judge Coe was told.

Thousands of documents were found when Hussain’s house was searched, proving it was the “control centre” for a massive network of fake brides and minders who accompanied them on flights to Pakistan, Sarah Wright, prosecuting, said.

The others sentenced this morning were:

• Czech national Eva Holubova, 19, who was sent to a young offenders institution for 10 months. She was found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

• Pakistani national Aftab Hussain, 36, was jailed for two years. He was found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

• Khalda Ahmed, 45, was given a seven-month prison sentence suspended for a year and ordered to do 150 hours unpaid work in the community. She pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration. Ahmed is British.

• Sabiha Khan, 46, was jailed for eight months. She pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration. Khan is British.

• Nadia Qureshi, 28, was jailed for six months. The Briton pleaded guilty to assisting unlawful immigration.

• Briton Mohammed Ramzan, 59, was jailed for three years. He was found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

• Slovakian national Peter Pohlooko, 19, was send to a young offenders institution for 21 months. He was found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.

Nine more defendants will be sentenced later today.