Four men jailed for arranging sham marriages to mail order brides

Four men, based in Rochdale, have been sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court for committing fraud by arranging sham marriages. 

• Hammed Khan was sentenced to two years imprisonment.
• Shahid Mahboob was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment.
• Nasir Khalil was sentenced to 15 months imprisonment.
• Muhammed Farhan was sentenced 16 months imprisonment.

Shilpa Chauhan, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West said: “The four men, who originated from Pakistan, facilitated sham marriages to young Roma Slovakian women.

“Shahid Mahboob and Nasir Khalil, who had over-stayed their permission to be in the UK and Hammed Khan who had only a temporary student visa, married their young brides in Gretna Green. 

"The women who were from very poor backgrounds had been brought into the country in a mail order type scenario. They had been in Britain a very short time before they were married, some of them only a matter of days.

"Muhammad Farhan assisted Hammed Khan to arrange his sham marriage.

"Nasir Khalil also deceived a girl into marrying him as soon as she turned 16.

“This was a complex investigation and prosecution involving multiple strands of evidence.

"The men involved this criminal enterprise showed utter disregard for the welfare of the women they used in order simply to secure permission to stay in the UK. Mahboob and Khalil went so far as to father children with their wives.

“The convictions and sentence send out a strong message that the CPS, police and immigration enforcement take these offences very seriously and anyone involved in arranging these marriages in order to flout immigration laws can expect to be prosecuted robustly."