THREE people were due to appear in court todaycharged in connection with an alleged marriage scam.
Ismail Pirbhai, 48, of Dartford Close, Blackburn, Ibrahim Ismil Patel, also 48, of Dartford Close, and Jacquline Simone Grahams, 23, of Liverpool Road, Penwortham, near Preston, were due to appear before Blackburn magistrates.
They were charged that between January 1, 1994, and January 30, 2001, at Blackburn they conspired with others to defraud the Home Office by arranging false marriages and documentation to allow people to illegally enter and stay unlawfully in the UK.
The charges followed a police operation, codenamed Capital in which houses in Blackburn and Penwortham were raided. Police also searched two solicitors' offices in Blackburn.
Six people were initially arrested. Two were later released on police bail and a third, a 31-year-old woman, released without charge.
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