Morning:
18°c
The full story of the rescue operation was told as it emerged that plastic windows fitted at the block two years ago melted in the intense heat, effectively acting as fuel for the blaze
More...
The migrant spy camera scam run from a BMW
Justin Davenport, Crime Correspondent14.11.08
SCOTLAND Yard today warned that hi-tech gangs are raking in hundreds of thousands of pounds a year by cheating in the new British immigration tests.
The fraudsters are using sophisticated spy technology to help migrants pass the “Life in the UK” exams which are intended to check whether they can speak the language.
Applicants, who do not speak or read English, are equipped with tiny buttonhole cameras and hidden earpieces so they can be passed the correct answers.
The racket was highlighted by a court case in which a couple were jailed after being caught outside Wimbledon library in a BMW packed with electronic transmitters, laptops and surveillance gadgets. They were transmitting answers to a Chinese national inside the building who was sitting the multiple choice “Britishness” test even though he could not understand English.
Steven Lee and his girlfriend Rong Yang, both British nationals of Chinese descent, were jailed for eight months at Kingston crown court for three counts of facilitating a breach of immigration law. Two Chinese men who took the test, Ka Hung Pang, 52, of Horsham, and En Zhuang, 38, of Deptford High Street, were sentenced to 180 hours community work for deception.
The court heard this week how Lee, 36, and Yang, 28, were sitting in a BMW 3 series outside the library in March this year.
A member of the public called police when they saw wires running from under the bonnet to the interior. When officers arrived and searched the vehicle they found laptops, radio transmitters and other surveillance equipment.
At first police thought the couple were running a cash machine fraud, skimming the cards of unsuspecting users. The couple claimed they were using the equipment to watch Chinese television channels. Pang, who had already sat the test, was also in the car. But only when Zhuang returned to the car did the immigration fraud become clear. The two men would direct the tiny camera at the computer screen and the couple in the car would then relay the correct answers to them via a hidden earpiece. When Zhuang was searched he was found to have £1,000 in cash, believed to be the payment for Lee and Yang.
Sergeant Dominic Washington, of Merton police, said the tricksters made thousands of pounds. He said: “We believe we have uncovered an established criminal enterprise that may be in operation in other parts of the country.”
Detectives from the Yard's Operation Swale team, which works with the Border and Immigration Agency to tackle immigration crime, are now examining the scam.
Lee and Yang lived in a £600,000 house in Redhill and police believe they helped dozens of immigrants pass the tests.
The “Life in the UK” immigration tests were introduced in April last year and are intended to prove that migrants are suitable to be citizens.
The multiple-choice exam is run on computers with touch screen answers. The 24-question quiz takes 45 minutes and has a 75 per cent pass mark.
Questions range from “Where are Geordie, Cockney and Scouse accents spoken?” to “What are the main Christian festivals?”
Reader views (11)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
When we went and colonized the world and robbed them of there gold, silver, gems, oil and free (slave) labour. We never asked to sit any ciizenship tests? what is a vindaloo? oh sorry - you can't come in. We even imposed our own language and value systems upon them. Thats why with the advent of air travel they are all coming back here (maybe to reclaim?). As the Japanese have already proven and the Chinese and Indians will prove in good time, we are not the superior race. The test is stupid and racist and it deserves to be scammed!. To that Norwegian fellow our minds on women are scary too. I have a young daughter and sons and I'm sick of seeing semi-naked or virtually naked womens images plastered everywhere. We are sexualizing our young more and more, they are being robbed of their innocence and it's even worse where you are from.
- John, Enfield
Make it law that all test rooms are radio shielded and that all bags are left outside the test area. Check candidates ears and run a cheap bug detector over them prior to sitting exam. Not dificult is it?
- Andy F, Birmingham
Oops, UK you got to stop this asap and take the quiz to a new level before your contry is going to end like mine (sometime on a bus, in the u-ground or in the local store, you are absolutly alone from your own contry, you have no rights, you have nothing to say, the crimes are ruching, they are robbing the elderly, raiping and there minds about wommens are scary). Wake up before its to late!
- Mats Olsson, Stockholm Sweden
Nothing will work again in this country unless we take back control of our borders.
We must also take back control of police training, throw Diversity and NLP into the long grass and get back to reality...........
- C Merit, Plymouth England
Two Chinese men who took the test were sentenced to 180 hours community work for deception.
So they were caught cheating the test. Instead of deporting them they were allowed to stay but had to do a bit of community service? Why bother with the test in the first place? What a joke this country has become. We are in a financial quagmire and are letting in know fraudsters. I simply despair.
- Craig, London
Deporting them would be a waste of human resource. Just think what their talents can do for national security etc. At least they're not sponging off the govt or harming anyone.
- Wok Dis Way Mate, London
Not just the Car Tax Disc but also the Insurance certificate should be displayed on windscreens. And there should be random spot checks. If either is a fraud, then a 10 year to life ban on driving should be imposed.
- Dhanraj, Basildon Essex
The tests are easy, my wife finished this test in 3 minutes...why would anyone need to cheat.
No mention of them being deported, why??? Do we really want people like this getting UK citizenship? We have enough problems without needing to import more.
- Keith, Reading UK
I don't know why they bothered, just tell the centre you need a translator and they would probably fall over themselves to get one for you. If not, claim your Human Rights and get a free pass to the UK.
- Roger, Staines
Well at least this couple showed initiative. Although I think it may have been easier to sit the test.
- Steve, Nw11, UK/CH
What does it matter? The country is awash with illegal immigrants that the Government do not care about, do not deport and, if they do, only try and deport them when they have been here for years and have established families and homes and then they cannot be deported because it would infringe their human rights even though they may have committed serious crimes. That's fine but now all of a sudden it is criminal to assist someone to pass a "Britishness" test. And what a question - what are the main Christian festivals. We are scarcely allowed to celebrate them any more in the name of political correctness.
- Patricia, LONDON
