A court in the United Kingdom has jailed four Nigerians for forging over 2,000 marriage documents to facilitate the illegal stay of their fellow countrymen in the European country.
According to the Home Office on Tuesday, the Woolrich Crown Court sentenced the four convicts to an aggregate of 13 years in prison.
The convicts, Abraham Onifade, 41; Abayomi Shodipo, 38; Nosimot Gbadamosi, 31; and Adekunle Kabir, 54, created phony European Union Settlement Scheme applications for Nigerian nationals from March 2019 to May 2023.
Their sentences ranged from nine months to six years, based on the seriousness of their crimes.
Onifade, Shodipo, Gbadamosi, and Kabir made sham Nigerian customary marriage certificates and other fraudulent documentation to back the applications of Nigerian citizens seeking to reside in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme.
However, the Home Office, in a collaborative probe with its international operations based in Lagos, Nigeria uncovered more than 2,000 false marriage documents.
Onifade from Gravesend and Shodipo from Manchester were sentenced to six years and five years imprisonment, respectively.
Also, Gbadamosi from Bolton, was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, while Kabir, from London, was jailed for nine months.
