UK NEWS

NEWLYWEDS ARRESTED IN IMMIGRATION SWOOP AFTER CHURCH SERVICE

WEDLOCK: An officer arrests the bride on suspicion of helping an illegal immigrant

Thursday October 2,2008

By Nick Fagge

HARDLY one for the wedding album, is it?

A young bride is led away in handcuffs on suspicion of helping an illegal immigrant into Britain.

The 21-year-old bride, wearing a white gown and pearls with a veil pinned to her tied-back hair, was arrested after marrying a 37-year-old Nigerian man.

The pair wed in a church in Dulwich, south-east London, but left separately after the ceremony.

The bride was driven away by another man, and police swooped in nearby Crystal Palace when their car was flagged up on the automatic number plate recognition system.

The tearful bride, who is from Portugal, was ordered out of the Ford Mondeo and arrested. The driver and another woman in the car were questioned and released.

The groom arrived at the scene soon afterwards in another car and was arrested.

The newlyweds, who lived separately in Southwark, south London, were taken in separate police cars to nearby Bromley police station.

The Nigerian groom now faces deportation. The bride was bailed to appear again next month.

The scenes came in a joint operation last month between police and immigration officials.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “A bride and groom were arrested on suspicion of immigration offences shortly after they had married.

“The 37-year-old Nigerian groom was handed over to officers from the UK Border Agency and remains in custody while officers work to remove him from the UK.

“The 21-year-old Portuguese bride was bailed to return to Bromley police station on November 6 on suspicion of facilitating the entry of an illegal immigrant into the UK.”

After stopping the car, police searched an address in nearby Sydenham where they found several passports in different names but bearing the same photograph.

This led to two other men being jailed. Nigerian Kazeem Fasanya, 31, of Sydenham, was given 14 months after pleading guilty at Croydon on September 25 to possessing a false passport.

On the same day Adey Senaike, 34, also of Sydenham, was jailed for six months after he admitted possessing a passport containing false Home Office stamps.

Bromley Police Sergeant Philip Spaul said: “We will continue to send out the message that we will not tolerate immigration abuse.”