Hundreds of Afghan migrants get to UK disguised as Sikh relatives as turbans hide identity
HUNDREDS of Afghan asylum seekers came into the UK using the genuine passports of British Sikhs because of the turbans on their identification photographs.
Davinder Chawla faces jail over a Sikh passport scam
Border officials are said to have difficulty distinguishing between illegal immigrants and genuine passport holders because Sikh men are allowed to wear turbans in their ID documents.
Three Sikh men, Daljit Kapoor, 41, Harmit Kapoor, 40, and Davinder Chawla, 42, have admitted running a scam providing Sikhs from the war-torn country with passports of family members who most looked like them so they could pass themselves off as British citizens.
Around 30 people from the same Afghan Sikh community are said to have successfully claimed asylum after paying the trio £12,000 per family to enter the UK.
But immigration authorities believe there may be hundreds more as the scam is thought to have gone on for a number of years undetected.
The men will be sentenced at Inner London Crown Court
The three will be sentenced at Inner London Crown Court later this month for their part in the people-smuggling racket.
A gang member would drive to Paris with genuine passports of family members and hand them over to men, women and children so they could get through airport security.
Once in the country the gang retrieved the passports and reused them with new groups and families.
The gang is also understood to have operated from Thailand.
It was not until easyJet staff noticed something was wrong and alerted French authorities that the conspiracy was unearthed.
Davinder Chawla admitted hiring a vehicle to drive to Paris with the passports
It's very difficult for the authorities at the border control to distinguish who's who on the passports
In June 2014 Chawla drove to France and boarded a flight with around 11 Afghan Sikhs, making up three families, but were stopped when they entered the UK.
Edward Aydin, prosecuting at an earlier hearing at Camberwell Magistrates' Court, said: "We say these three men are the facilitators in this organisation, this organised crime, where they are using genuine British passport holders within the Sikh community.
"It's a Sikh conspiracy and it's occurring because it's very difficult for the authorities at the border control to distinguish who's who on the passports."
Both Kapoors, of Hounslow, who are cousins, and Chawla, of Isleworth, who is also a member of the same extended family, appeared at Inner London Crown Court and sat in the dock alongside two interpreters.
As their trial was about to start, three of the defendants pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to help asylum seekers to enter the UK illegally between May and June 2014.
The migrants used the Sikhs' passports to get into the UK
Harmit Kapoor also admitted booking flights between June 8 and June 21, 2014, for the asylum seekers to get to Britain.
Chawla admitted hiring a vehicle to facilitate their entry into the country when he drove to Paris.
A fourth suspect, Joginder Dawan, 41, pleaded not guilty to one count of conspiracy to help asylum seekers enter the UK and one charge of assisting the offence by allowing his passport to be used to book flights and travel.
Not guilty verdicts were recorded for both counts and he was discharged.
In February 2011 Chawla, along with four other men was jailed for five years for also helping illegal immigrants enter the country as part of an identical conspiracy.
The gang was given a total of 26 years between them.