Pakistani criminal gang that planned false marriages in the UK was raided by the Office of Criminal Assets for luxury vehicles

The Office of Criminal Assets crushed a CRIME gang who devised fake marriages in the UK.

The Pakistani mob, which also works closely with Lithuanian gangsters, was behind dozens of fake weddings and fraud scams across England.

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They operated in the UK facilitating illegal nuptials and also executing ‘mandate fraud’.

The scam, similar to invoice redirection fraud, is executed by criminals who hide official websites and emails from legitimate companies before informing their customers that the cash owed should be sent to a new bank account.

Once the money was received, the criminals took the cash out of the accounts to buy luxury cars.

A source said: “This was a well organized criminal enterprise of a gang using Ireland to legitimize their cash.

“All the money they made from their scams in the UK was immediately used to buy vehicles before selling them in Ireland.

“Once the cars were sold, the cash was legitimate because it had been sold in the garage.”

SHIPPED TO IRELAND

Luxury vehicles, including Audis and BMWs, were shipped to Ireland and sold at the used car garage in Co Tipperary.

CAB investigators were first notified of the scam last year by the West Midlands Police Bureau of Economic Crimes.

The CAB then launched ‘Operation Bagana’ as part of its efforts to seize the assets of the criminal gang.

Officers from the Garda National Immigration Office under ‘Operation Vantage’ are also investigating whether they were performing fake marriages here.

RAID GARAGE

During yesterday’s raids, the Emergency Response Unit broke into the used car dealership garage.

Some of the suspects were also present when the cars were impounded.

Once inside, they found a man that the gardai suspect was forced to stay in the garage overnight to prevent someone from entering.

The Irish Sun can reveal that all the cars in the garage (80 vehicles worth more than 2 million euros) were seized in the crackdown.

RENTED PROPERTIES

The agents, who were backed by the Gardai Stolen Vehicle Investigation Unit, the Garda Revenue and Technical Office, also seized € 21,000 from various rented properties.

Investigators also frozen around € 200,000 in cash in bank accounts here.

Two residential properties and a business premises previously owned by one of the suspects were also searched.

At the same time, two women, aged 22 and 35, along with two men, aged 38 and 41, were arrested in the Dudley and Sandwell areas of the UK on suspicion of money laundering and fraud.

Yesterday’s search was well received by CAB’s office director, Detective Superintendent Michael Gubbins.

The senior officer said: “The search operation is an example of the ongoing cooperation between the Office for Criminal Assets, An Garda Síochána and the UK Police Forces in the investigation of international organized criminal groups.

“Our activities advance the CAB’s mission to deny and deprive.”

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