Eyewitness video: Seven held as police swoop on 'sham wedding' in Sheffield

Officers from the specialist Immigration Crime Team interrupted the wedding ceremony at Sheffield Register Office as it was about to start at 10.30am.

The 29-year-old, Pakistani groom and the 35-year-old Slovakian bride were arrested, handcuffed and escorted out of the Town Hall by police and UK Border Agency officials before being bundled into a waiting police car and taken to a police station for further questioning. Five other guests were also arrested and now face questioning.

Alisdair Duncan from the UK Border Agency, who was leading yesterday's raid, said that the bride and groom didn't seem particularly upset to have their wedding day interrupted.

He said: "It was a reaction of 'oh well, you're caught me'. If you can imagine having your big day stopped by police turning up with the border agency it would be quite distressing. But there was none of that at all."

Today's arrests follow earlier action to tackle suspected sham marriages in Sheffield, with nine people already having been arrested and charged following other suspected sham weddings this summer.

These operations are part of planned nationwide action by the UK Border Agency to tackle illegal working, sham marriages, bogus colleges and organised immigration crime.

Damian Green, Minister for Immigration, said: "Illegal immigration is big business. At home and abroad, we are tackling highly organised crime groups who make their living by trying to exploit the immigration system and breach our border security.

"Some of these hide people in lorries in an attempt to cross our borders illegally; some provide them with fake identity documents; others set up bogus colleges or arrange sham marriages. Worst of all - some force women and children to work against their will in the sex industry."