Shopkeeper gained £500,000 by deceiving Home Office into allowing 188 migrants enter UK illegally

    A Bradford shopkeeper cashed in on over £500,000 by deceiving the government over migrants.

    The fraudster duped the Home Office into allowing 188 migrants into the UK illegally, charging people thousands of pounds by acting as a licensed sponsor.

    Malkeet Singh Rathod, 48, gained entry for migrants from India by falsely posing them as religious workers who were needed in the Sikh community.

    Rathod, of Old Lane in Birkenshaw, was convicted of fraud by misrepresentation and five charges of money laundering following a trial lasting more than 11 weeks at Leeds Crown Court.

    He was jailed yesterday, 20 June, for nine years.

    His wife was also convicted for money laundering offences.

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