Undercover Bride Week In Week Out

Brides and grooms for sale. Tonight, we go undercover to expose the big

fake Welsh wedding planners. Have you done these pretend marriages

before? Yes. We follow the UK Border Agency as

they try to stop couples marrying for visas, not love. Is there a

reason you don't want me to know where your passport is?

We ask how some are getting away with it. It is very hard to come

into a marriage room, marrying a couple and you just know they're

laughing behind their hands at you. And we investigate why Wales is a

target. A want to talk you about fake

marriages, that she'll organising fake marriage is. -- that you are

In a perfect world, your wedding day should be the happiest day of

your life. The joining of two people in love. Well, not always.

It can go horribly wrong. The UK Border Agency are about to

raid what they think is a sham marriage at Cardiff Register Office.

Just waiting for them to arrive. The plan is they will be seen by a

metre and a greater and be taken down to the reception room. Once

they are there, we will go down and deal with them. -- by a meeter and

greeter. The groom is Nigerian. His bride is

Polish. No guests yet, but the couple are about to get a big

surprise. Hello, we need to have a bit of a

chat with you Hi, my name's Lisa. I'm with the UK

Border Agency. The couple are split up for

questioning and held in separate rooms. But will their stories

match? I want you to be as truthful as you

can with me. Where did you meet your partner? Cardiff. Where in

Cardiff? Newport Road. Do you know what date that was? No. Do you know

what month? No. I can't remember. The bride-to-be is struggling to

remember important facts too. Like where her fiance popped the

question. Where were you when he asked you?

At his friend's house. And where was that? I don't remember. In

Cardiff. In this case, the Border Agency was

tipped off by the registrar. In the past year here, they have contacted

the UKBA 20 times. It's a priority for us as at the moment, as it's an

avenue that criminals and offenders are exploring to try and exploit

the immigration system. So it's something we're clamping down on to

make sure that they don't. I don't think this relationship is

genuine. You're not giving anything that suggests that this is a

relationship that is genuine. Sham marriages are becoming big

business. Loopholes in immigration laws are being exploited by the

trade. Tonight, we go undercover to find people willing to sell us the

services of a fake groom who'll This is our fake bride-to-be. She's

Indian and one of our undercover journalists.

We've given her an uncle - another member of our team. He's met up

with a man in Cardiff who is offering sham marriage packages.

said that he could find us a European groom. He even said that

he could find a fair guy or a dark guy. But he said the fair one would

look better in photos. He's even offered a place to live in -

everything we'll need to try to cheat our way through a sham

marriage and ultimately get a visa so that I can stay in the UK.

She has told the wedding fixer that her visa is running out. He says a

fake wedding is one way of keeping Let's do it, let's see, Mr Lubos.

A few days later, our undercover uncle goes to meet the fixer to

arrange the deal. This man, Lubos, is Czech, and he's

lined up a Czech groom for us. What is your name?

What do you think, I have never done this before?

Lubos says this isn't his first So how much.

Lubos says this isn't his first sham marriage.

So for �3,500, our bride can walk down the aisle with Filip.

But Lubos says they'll have to be able to prove they're in a

relationship. And that means faking They have to be together for a

year? At least. He offers to let the happy couple

use the flat as a fake home in case the Border Agency become suspicious.

He is an expert? He has done this before. You yes, yes. A good job?

So we leave, with plans to come At present, there is no single sham

marriage offence. To prosecute someone, officials have to show a

range of crimes have been committed - conspiracy, deception, and fraud.

And that's not always easy. Across Britain, the wedding

scammers are playing cat and mouse with the UKBA. There's been a rise

in reports from suspicious registrars. And several cases have

recently come before Welsh courts. In December, Sharon Creaghan from

Cardiff was caught trying to marry Naseer Awan for cash, not love.

Naseer Awan was allowed in to the UK on a student visa. He was

supposed to be attending a college in Essex, but he came here instead

to City Road, in Cardiff, where he got a job in a local shop. And it

was at this point, the court was told, that he met unemployed Sharon

Creaghan. . He offered her �1,400 to get

married, and she said yes. But when they went to register their

intention to marry, officials became suspicious. We received a

report from the registrar that they had concerns about this marriage

being a genuine relationship. And we again intervened on the day to

disrupt the wedding and question the people involved.

Officers searched Creaghan's house, and found a crib sheet written by

her fake fiance. It was full of facts about his life and family.

The result was they were charged and taken to court.

Both pleaded guilty. The judge told them that their actions made a

mockery of the immigration procedures and also of the solemn

state of marriage. He said, it was "a sham, a disgrace". It's one of

these crimes that, on the surface of it, can appear to be a

victimless crime because the person on the street might take the view

that, well, if two people get married, what's the harm in that?

That deception opens the door to a wide range of benefits and services

and privileges that this country Awan wanted to bring his sick nine-

year-old son to Wales from Pakistan so he could be treated on the NHS.

Instead, Awan was jailed for a year and then deported. Creaghan

received an 18-month suspended sentence, and community service. As

she left court, we tried to ask her why she did it.

We are making a programme about sham marriages and just wondered if

we could have a quick word with Today, our undercover bride is

about to meet her fake groom-to-be. And as instructed, we've brought

This is Jim. He is going to make Filip has put on a suit for the

photo shoot and Lubos' girlfriend They will have to take proof of

their identities and their relationship to the registrar. So

Lubos says they'll need to add our bride's name to utility bills for

the flat, to make the con seem They check her ID and start working

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 41 seconds

on crib sheets Everything was just so methodical.

They were so meticulous, like getting our names on the utility

bills, knowing what we had to say, what kind of questions might or

might not be asked. They were so thorough with all of this.

With the paperwork done, it's time He reminds our photographer to

alter the date on the camera in Even Lubos and his girlfriend get

Going down to various locations and knowing exactly what shots we

needed. We had to pretend to be in love. I found it really strange, as

it was things you do with someone you're generally in love with. --

genuinely. In the space of just a few hours,

they've faked the past year in Latest figures reveal that across

the UK, in 2000 and there when, there were twice the previous

number of calls from worried British drivers. An interesting mix

of nationality. Bulgarian and Ethiopian. I have never seen that

before in 25 years. Mark Rimmer chairs a nationwide Society for

registrars. Of those reported to the Border Agency, I think they are

the tip of the iceberg. I get frustrated sometimes. It is very

difficult to come into a marriage room like this when you are married

June -- marrying a couple, and know that they are laughing at you, the

system, the immigration rules. They think they can walk out of here and

put to his fingers up at the system. -- but two fingers up at the system.

He reckons that half of his inquiries could be a fake. This is

a civil partnership between a Pakistani male and a European male.

That is unusual. Would it flag up suspicion? It would. May be when we

interview them we good start to understand there is may be a

problem. When I meet colleagues from other parts of the UK, it

certainly seems to be are also witnessing huge increases in the

number of people getting married from the European Union to foreign

nationals. Back at Cardiff register office, the team are still checking

facts. They are questioning the groom about his paperwork. Where is

your passport? What address? Is there a reason you do not want me

to know where your passport is? They know he is a failed asylum

seeker. They think the wedding is his attempt at escaping deportation.

Because you have no basis to remain in the UK we need to take legal

action. Today I need to arrest you. He does not want to provide his

passport because that means he will be going home a little quicker.

Unfortunately, you will not be going through with your wedding

today. He is taken to a police station and then detention centre.

Meanwhile, his Polish Bride is told that she is free to go. We deal --

we cannot deal with every case. was able to walk free at the end of

this. Some people would find that are. Sham marriages, there are

crimp -- criminal elements going on all the time and while there is the

possibility that she has committed a criminal offence, we cannot

investigate every single offence and she may well have got away with

that but from our perspective, we Our undercover bride is visiting

her fake fiance again. Lubos has asked a Czech translator to give

her a more advice to help her work This is Vaclav. That Graf -- Vaclav

is being lined up to help them plan their big day. He is full of handy

Vaclav even suggests a wedding Then you will block the

appointment? Do we have a marriage So up this is at the marriage party

They demand a �500 deposit. Vaclav gets �150 fortune now of his time.

-- for 60 minutes of his time. The Government has made it more

difficult for un- EU citizens to marry a British nationals but the

rules did not apply it to European citizens. If a foreign national

he's marrying a British national there is a probationary period. The

fee is �1,000. But if you marry a European Union National, the

probationary period does not apply and there is no charge when you

make an application to the UKBA, because European directives mean no

charge can be levied. It is a loophole the sham marriage Dixons

are exploiting, and not just in the big cities. -- fixers. They have

even come here, too Llandudno. A Czech fake bride and Pakistani

groom from Manchester at troubled here last summer and gave notice to

marry but when the Registrar saw her hand in -- holding hands with

another man, they called the Border Agency. The report we received from

the Registrar clearly indicated to us that there was the involvement

of third parties. The result was that six people were arrested for

being involved in the conspiracy. And when we interviewed the six

people, the bride, Kokenyova, made almost an immediate confession that

this was indeed a sham marriage. She had only been in the UK a few

months and it then transpired that she was indeed pregnant by her

Czech boyfriend. It seems like a quick solution to get some easy

money. It has turned out not to be the case. Or six will be sentenced

next month. -- all six. Undercover bride is back at the flat. Lubos

says she and Filip need more training to for the registrar. --

I could not believe some are the questions Filip was asking me. He

had really done his homework. He did not want to leave anything to

Lubos wanted to move things along. He wanted �3,500. They told us at

Vaclav, the adviser, would make the necessary arrangements in just a

There were around 300 and force and operations in the UK last year,

resulting in 230 prosecutions. The registrar office in Cardiff works

closely with the UKBA and today a registrar has tipped them off over

their suspicions about another Nigerian groom. I am an officer

with the UK Border Agency. suspected him to be an immigration

are tender. We knew a lot of information about him. --

immigration offenders. We checked and his leave have been curtailed

so he was suspected of being an overstayer. A tension turns to one

of the guests. -- attention. When he was asked his name, date of

birth, nationality, what he was doing in the United Kingdom, he

gave the details of somebody else. He came back as his true identity

and somebody who had come here to study but was now an overstayer, so

he was arrested. The groom and the rest were taken into custody. The

bride was free to go after questioning. People have seen, in

this programme, two would-be brides walking away. That does not seem to

be much of a deterrent. There is a lot of activity going on where

organised criminals and individuals are being Rosicky do and get

substantial sentences so there is a deterrent. It is difficult for you.

There is clearly a question about resource. Yes, and they are looking

to try to bring in new legislation where sham marriages might become

an offence. At the moment it is not actually an offence. I asked

Immigration Minister Mark Proctor if existing laws are tough enough.

The marriage bit, doing that not for a genuine reason is not

currently an offence. Back is something we are looking at, to see

whether that would give us the extra powers that would make its

successful at dealing with it. -- Make us successful. Lou Loz has

called. He has booked an appointment for the happy couple to

register their notice to marry at Which marriage of this? Where do we

If orange in bride was genuinely marrying a British citizen, it

would take longer and cost more. -- If our Indian bride. But marrying a

European makes it much easier. Critics say the loophole makes it

too easy. What about the loophole in that

European nationals are unable to come here and not restricted in the

same way that British nationals are? That is why we need to step up

our approach to it, make sure we are more effective. When registrars

report it to us we need to deal with it. But you know you're only

scratching the surface. That is why we need to step up what we are

doing. We are also in looking at further at legal steps we can take

to make our existing tools more effective. Today is the big day.

Are under cover a bride is meeting Filip and then Lubos by -- Filip

But as they head out, we are waiting around the corner with our

own special wedding surprise. Can I speak to you? I am from the BBC.

am busy. You are organising a fake marriage. Would you like to tell us

about that? You have received �500. Now. We know that your house. We

have evidence. I swear I did not. We know your name is a Lubos hands

that you have also arranged other marriages. Never. We know you are

on your way to the register office. No, I'm not. Why are you denying

this? You know it is illegal. This gentleman's name is Filip and we

know he is a broom expecting to go and get married to an Asian lady.

How many copies have you organised? I have not organised any. We know

that money has exchanged hands. We have the evidence. Next, which

wrecked and they associate, Vaclav. Hello. -- we track down their

associate. You said you would help make arrangements. I do not make

anything at all. You knew you were breaking the law. I do not do

anything. I am not around any appointments. I do not do anything

at all. So despite the fact we have got used saying this on camera,

talking to two people at you thought you could take money from

to arrange a sham marriage? This is bull. The border agencies says it

is interested in seeing our evidence. And what about the other

couples who did not make it down the aisle? The Nigerian group who

try marrying his Polish fiancee is now in detention awaiting

deportation. The guest arrested at the other ceremony has already been

sent home to Nigeria. The groom was later released but may yet be

deported. Money cannot buy you love but with the bright cash and

connections we have shown how it could bring you a way into the

country, if not married bliss. But the Border Agency has a warning.