A BOGUS wedding planner jailed for marrying Scottish brides to African men faces deportation after being involved in more than 100 scams.
Lamin Manneh, who was paid £500 for each fake marriage he helped arrange, brought the men up from England to waiting women in Paisley who were themselves paid to help customers attain the right to remain in the UK.
But the 36-year-old was caught o
ut using his own name and address as he regularly appeared at local registry offices, gaining the nickname "the wedding planner" from staff.
The UK Border Agency said they would be trying to have Manneh, originally from Gambia, deported as soon as possible into his two-year sentence.
He was convicted as a result of a three-year inquiry into sham marriages in the UK, which identified a growing number of African nationals living in England marrying British nationals in the Paisley area.
Investigations involving the General Registrar Office for Scotland found he had been involved in 107 marriages involving men mainly from Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria marrying with the aim of getting permission to settle permanently within the UK. All the men were in the UK temporarily as students or working holiday-makers.
Paisley Sheriff Court heard Manneh was merely a chauffeur or courier to the men, and had to pay for travel and accommodation out of the £500 he was paid for each of nine fake marriages.
Manneh, of Woodley, Reading, pleaded guilty last month to breaching immigration law and arranging the sham marriages.
The court was told Paisley had been identified as the "best place" to find women "primed" to be paid between £1,000 and £2,000 to go through with the loveless nuptials. If the fake unions had not been exposed within two years, the men could have won permanent status in the UK.
Defence agent Jonathan Manson said Manneh came from a small, impoverished village in Gambia where disease and starvation were significant.
He said: "All he was doing was supporting his family and trying not to be a burden on society. Contrary to popular belief, he was not seen as someone who came over to claim benefits to the detriment of the British taxpayer. He has led a blameless life."
Manneh applied for a student visa for the UK from Malta in 1999 and originally studied IT before working full-time, though he was not authorised to do so.
Mr Manson said half of the money was paid directly from the men to the Paisley women upfront and Manneh had no involvement in those payments. In one marriage, he acted as a witness at the registry office, the court heard.
Mr Manson added: "Mr Manneh was at the end of the chain. The women in Paisley had already been primed. They knew exactly what they were doing. They were not being forced."
Manneh pleaded guilty on 8 April at Paisley Sheriff Court to arranging marriages in Paisley on five occasions, Renfrew twice and Glasgow's Park Circus Registry Office twice, all between April 2006 and February 2007.
Phil Taylor, regional director of the UK Border Agency in Scotland, said: "Manneh's conviction sends out a message that the UK Border Agency and the courts in Scotland will not tolerate immigration abuse and will punish those who break the laws.
"This operation concerned a major sham marriage scam involving over 100 people. We had the full co-operation of the Registrar's Office, whose expertise and care were essential to the investigation. UKBA and seconded police officers from the Scottish Police Service carried out the operation and the strength of evidence they gathered against Manneh led him to plead guilty."
The full article contains 620 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
