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Newlywed arrested in police swoop on illegal immigrants
Benedict Moore-Bridger01.10.08
This is the moment a bride was arrested on her wedding day as part of a police crackdown on suspected illegal immigrants.
The Portuguese woman was led away in her wedding dress, handcuffed to a policeman, just after she had exchanged vows with her groom.
As she was being driven away from her marriage ceremony, the car was stopped by police and the 21-year-old arrested on suspicion of helping an illegal immigrant into the UK.
Her new husband, a 37-year-old Nigerian, was also arrested, taken into custody and is now facing deportation on the grounds that he is an illegal immigrant.
The dramatic scenes unfolded in Crystal Palace during a joint operation between Metropolitan Police officers and UK Border Agency investigators.
The couple had just been married in a church at nearby Dulwich. A Ford Mondeo, being driven by another man, was stopped by police in Anerley Hill, near Crystal Palace park, after being flagged up on the police's Automatic Number Plate Recognition system.
The tearful bride, still in her white dress, was ordered out of the car. An officer wearing a black stab-proof vest placed her in handcuffs.
The other occupants of the car, a man driving and another woman passenger, were also held by police. They were questioned but not arrested.
The couple were placed in separate marked police cars and taken for questioning at Bromley police station. They had both been living in Southwark. The groom had been at his own address and the bride was staying with friends.
Police said the stopping of the car led to a search being conducted at an address in Sydenham, where numerous passports were found in different names, but bearing the same photograph. This led to two other men being arrested, both of whom have appeared in court and been jailed since the operation.
Kazeem Fasanya, a 31-year-old Nigerian, of Montana Gardens, Lower Sydenham, was sentenced to 14 months after pleading guilty to possessing a false passport at Croydon magistrates' court on 25 September.
On the same day Adey Senaike, 34, also of Montana Gardens, was sentenced to six months jail after pleading guilty to possessing a passport containing false Home Office stamps.
Sergeant Philip Spaul, head of Bromley Police's Borough Support Unit, said: "We take criminal networks who try to hide their true identities from enforcement authorities very seriously. We will not tolerate immigration abuse."
Hugh Ind, area director for UK Border Agency, said: "These arrests demonstrate that the UK Border Agency and the Metropolitan Police are working hard to combat illegal immigration.
"We will leave no stone unturned and will work closely together to crack down on those attempting to abuse our immigration laws."
