A 45-year-old Dutch woman has been
jailed for four years for organising nine sham marriages, involving Nigerians
living in the United Kingdom. Diana Olivieira flew the brides over from Holland
to the North West for the ceremonies.
They all married Nigerians so that they
and their partners could take up residency in the UK. She was sentenced at
Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to conspiracy to facilitate non EU
persons into the UK.
Olivieira was arrested at her home address
in Rotterdam and brought to the UK on 25 July. Investigations by the UK Border
Agency found she travelled from Holland to the UK several times with her
clients.
Flights were arranged for Dutch nationals to
visit the UK for short periods. As people from the Netherlands are entitled to
live and work in the UK, while here their spouses applied for documents and
National Insurance numbers.
After they married, the Nigerians
applied for European Economic Area (EEA) residency status as spouses of EEA
nationals. Dave Magrath, from the UK Border Agency, said: "The sentence
handed to Olivieira sends out a clear message that we will not tolerate abuse
of our immigration system." Six of the grooms and some of their partners
have been prosecuted and received jail sentences totalling 17 years.
Culled from BBC
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