Bogus wedding gang 'lynch pin' jailed in UK

Page 46: Daily Graphic, February 22, 2010.
Story: Albert K. Salia
A 29-YEAR-OLD London-based Ghanaian has been jailed six years by the Croydon Crown Court for breaches to British immigration control, deception and ID Cards Act offences.
Described by the UK Border Agency as the “lynch pin” of a London bogus marriage ring, the convict, Victor Kugbeadzor of Brixton, is also to be deported after serving his sentence.
His conviction followed a two-year investigation by officers from the UK Border Agency.
An Assistant Director of the UK Border Agency’s Criminal and Financial Investigations Directorate, Mr Malcolm Bragg, told the Daily Graphic that Kugbeadzor was behind the organisation of at least six bogus weddings of British citizens to Ghanaian nationals, including his own, to enable the Ghanaians to obtain permission to stay in the UK.
He said Kugbeadzor married 28-year-old Kelly Bellotti at Barking Registry Office in October 2007 in order to get permission to stay in the UK.
“The marriage was a sham, with Bellotti receiving £2,000 to undertake the marriage,” he said.
Mr Bragg indicated that Bellotti was subsequently arrested in November 2008 and jailed in October 2009 along with three other British citizens who had also been involved in marriages organised by Kugbeadzor.
He said investigations led officers from the UK Border Agency’s Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) Unit to Devon, where Kugbeadzor was living under an assumed name.
He said Kugbeadzor was arrested in November 2009, and was jailed on February 11, 2010, after he pleaded guilty to a series of charges, including conspiracy to breach immigration control, deception and ID Cards Act offences, at Croydon Crown Court.
“This was a sophisticated and organised plot, and the sentence handed down in this case shows how seriously UKBA and the courts take these kinds of attempts to circumvent the UK’s immigration rules,” Mr Bragg said.
He said the British authorities were “determined to track down and stop this kind of abuse, and we hope today’s sentences send out a message that anyone who tries to enter into or organise a sham marriage faces arrest, prosecution, and a long time in prison”.
According to Mr Bragg, the conviction of Victor Kugbeadzor meant that nine people had now been jailed for their parts in the sham marriage ring, with sentences totalling seventeen-and-a-half years, saying that three Ghanaian nationals who benefited from the scam had already been deported.
The other persons convicted since 2008 in respect of the marriage scams are Kwabena Boadu, Frank Adjei and Henrieeta Adjei, all Ghanaian nationals, who have been deported after serving their jail terms.
The British accomplices are Lisa Curtis, Cheryl Collier, Kelley Belloti, Terry Hadley and Jay Davies.
They were each sentenced to 18 months.
Mr Bragg said the investigation into the ring, codenamed “Operation Probole”, lasted for more than two years and begun after immigration officials raised concerns about the marriage of British citizen Lisa Curtis to Ghanaian Kwabena Boadu.
He said both were arrested and documentation found at Ms Curtis’s home linked her to other suspected marriages.
“The UK continues to welcome genuine and law-abiding travellers. UKBA in Ghana, operating from within the British High Commission, works closely with local law enforcement agencies to bear down on fraudulent applications. As a result, the British High Commission’s visa issue rate has climbed from 50 per cent to 65 per cent,” he added.