A crack team of investigators have busted fraud rings within the home of UK immigration.

Over the last two years the Security and Anti-Corruption team (SACU) at Lunar House in Croydon has secured the conviction of 10 staff involved in separate immigration frauds.

The former employees have been sentenced to a total of 22 years in prison.

The longest sentence was nine years for committing misconduct in a public office, a charge which can carry a life sentence.

Four employees in the Immigration and Nationality Directorate have been found guilty of committing misconduct.

The offence involved selling either travel documents or stamps enabling immigrants to have indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the country.

Jahangir Alam was jailed for 14 months in June last year for arranging ILR for his brother.

Aisha Ajia was sentenced to three years and six months after a jury delivered a guilty verdict in April 2008 of 11 counts of misconduct.

And John-Ayo was jailed for nine years in February last year for selling 207 travel documents for illegal immigrants to use.

Another seven people have been charged or are awaiting trials over the coming months.

Andrew Pearce, head of the SACU, said: “The majority of UK Border Agency staff carry out their roles with professionalism and integrity.

“Unfortunately there are a small number who seek to abuse their position.

“The UK Border Agency will not tolerate corrupt activity. All allegations of corrupt activity are investigated and we also carry out proactive work to detect such activity.

“We always seek to prosecute staff where there are sufficient grounds to do so.

“We have an officer seconded to us from the Metropolitan Police Specialist Crime Directorate and also work closely with joint police and immigration teams around the country.”

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