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26 Nov, 2014 15:48

Immigration fraudster tries eating fake passport during citizenship test

Immigration fraudster tries eating fake passport during citizenship test

A man, reportedly paid £300 to sit a UK citizenship test on behalf of someone else, has been jailed after it was discovered the passport he used to sit the test was a fake. Apparently, the man attempted to eat the passport when it was examined by police.

Wasin Hussain, an ambulance service call operator, was jailed for eight months, admitting he was given a cash reward for taking the citizenship test on behalf of another man.

Hussain, 26, reportedly began to behave violently when his police questioners began to examine the Pakistani passport under a UV light.

Prosecutor Sarah Slater told Derby Crown Court “the member of staff told the defendant she believed the passport was false and that he would not be sitting the citizenship test.”

“He became very angry and grabbed the passport from the desk then tried to leave but the door was locked and he began to kick it.”

Slater then told the court that the defendant attempted to destroy the evidence by eating it.

He then began ripping at the passport, pulling off the front page and started to eat the passport.”

The police were called and arrested Hussain at the citizenship test center in Derby.

Mr Hussain later told police a man, claiming to be Zafar Mahmood, had offered him £300 to sit the test on his behalf.

Study Guides for the British citizenship (Reuters / Phil Noble)

Slater further told the court that Hussain had been approached while he was working weekends in a mobile phone shop.

Recorder Martin Jackson QC told the offender that obtaining a British passport was a privilege, after Hussain pleaded guilty to possession of false identification with improper intention.

The possession of a bona fide British passport gives people the right to certain privileges and those who falsely try to obtain one are undermining the whole system of immigration control,” he said.

You willingly accepted £300 to sit a citizenship test for another person who the prosecution tell me has never been traced. Given the need for there to be deterrents for those who use false documents to try and circumvent immigration controls,” he added.

Jackson said “there can only be one outcome” for those in possession of a false passport, “and that is custody.”

The defending lawyer said Hussain’s financial troubles drove him to commit the crimes, claiming his wife was pregnant with twins and that he was the only carer for his parents.

This offence took place at a time when he was struggling financially,” Mohammed Sarwar told the court.

He also showed the room a reference from the Dudley Central Mosque, which called Hussain a “valued volunteer.”

West Midland Ambulance Service confirmed Hussain would be sacked if he is found guilty.

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