Phoney Asylum Seekers

When the latest asylum seeker figures are published at the end of this month, if they follow recent trends, they'll show that approximately 2000 Afghans enter Britain every quarter. The majority of these are recognised as genuine applicants. But are they?

Newsnight has been approached by British Asians who are worried that phoney asylum seekers, Pakistanis posing as Afghans, and carrying false papers, are managing to slip in to the UK, and are damaging the image of the established communities here.

With their help Sue Lloyd-Roberts investigated this illegal and lucrative business.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Britain's Asian communities have been established in towns in the north-west of England, like Oldham, Bradford, Burnley, and Blackburn for half a century. When Afghans or Pakistanis arrive in this country as asylum seekers they tend to link up with those communities already settled here. But they're not always welcome.

"MOHAMMED":
Of the new Pakistani and Afghan arrivals in the north-west of Britain, I would say that only 30% are legitimate. I want to draw attention to all this because of the impact it's having on race relations, in particular around here where there's growing support for the National Front.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Mohammed was born in Blackburn. Like thousands of immigrants from South Asia, his father came to England in the 1950s to work in the textile industry. Now, Mohammed says he's seeing hundreds of new arrivals from Pakistan, and he doesn't like it. For fear of reprisals, he has asked us to guarantee his anonymity.

"MOHAMMED":
The Asian community are well aware that a large number of them are bogus. I think some 60-70% of the Pakistanis in these towns in the north west are posing as Afghans or Kashmiris, or some other persecuted group, in order to appeal for asylum. Us second and third generation British Asians feel that we are part of British society, and this isn't helping us, particularly the bad press about the asylum seekers. We are being painted with the same brush, and it isn't helpful.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Mohammed believes that hundreds of Pakistanis entered the country during the Taliban period, pretending to be fleeing Afghanistan. He says they are Pathans, Pakistanis from the north-west frontier province, which borders Afghanistan. The Pathan tribe are found on both sides of the border, in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan, and they speak the same language. As a Pathan himself, Mohammed can recognise another. Posing as an employer, he arranges to meet a few "Afghan refugees", working at a local shop. He has a secret camera, and we have disguised his voice.

"MOHAMMED":
Can you provide twelve workers?

UNNAMED MAN:
(TRANSLATION)
Yes, God willing.

"MOHAMMED":
Are you all Pakistanis, are you Pathans?

MAN:
Yes, we are all Pathans.

"MOHAMMED":
Are you all seeking asylum?

MAN:
Yes.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Mohammed is invited back to their house, where they confirm they are Pathans from Pakistan, and he discovers they've arrived in Britain recently, after the fall of the Taliban. They're seeking asylum in Britain, claiming to be fleeing from the new government in Afghanistan, which British troops helped install.

"MOHAMMED":
Are there other Pakistanis with you?

MAN:
Yes, they¿re staying in this house.

"MOHAMMED":
Did they come with you?

MAN:
No, they came after me, but they¿re staying here.

"MOHAMMED":
What story did you give them when you came? Did you say you were escaping from the Taliban?

MAN:
No, I said I was escaping from the current regime, from Karzai. Before, people were coming here to work, but said they were escaping from the Taliban as an excuse.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
The cover stories may change, but the so-called Afghans have been coming in for some time. Mohammed introduces me to Ali, who went to one of the people traffickers operating in Pakistan.

"ALI":
He said that it was "Your job to raise the money, and leave the rest to me." Then he took me to the British Embassy. They gave me an interview, and the agent was with me, and they said, "alright", and gave me a six-month visitor's visa. Then I flew from Islamabad to Heathrow Airport, and the agent said, once you get there don't take any ID with you, and when you go to immigration, say that you're fleeing from the Taliban.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
You were told to destroy your passport?

"ALI":
Yes destroy them, flush them in the toilet. And I told them that I had fled from Afghanistan. My agent told me about a solicitor in Southall in London, to contact him and leave the rest of the problem to him.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Did this lawyer in Southall know that you were really a Pakistani masquerading as an Afghan?

"ALI":
Yes. My agent back in Pakistan told me to tell him the reality, and only then would he be able to help me.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Are there many Pakistanis in this country who¿ve come in using the same deception?

"ALI":
Yes. There are lots.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Dozens? Hundreds?

"ALI":
I have come across about 40-45 which I know personally, and they all say that they, in turn know more, so it must be in the hundreds.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan's north-west frontier province, where the people and customs reflect their neighbours in Afghanistan, and where you find dozens of agencies offering tickets to the West, and expert visa advice.

Mohammed travelled with us to Pakistan and, with the help of his cousin Rafiq, who is also a Pathan, set out to discover the options open to a young man desperate to get to the UK, but without the legal means to do so. It¿s not hard, they don't have to hunt for help from back street agents. Nearly every second high street agent they ask offers to help, albeit in a variety of ways.

With a secret camera, they call on Swan Travels, where they're told that the easiest and cheapest way is to go to France, and try their luck from there. It would cost £7,000.

UNNAMED MAN 2:
(TRANSLATION)
Once in Europe, we have Pakistani agents who can take you wherever you want.

"MOHAMMED":
Even in London?

MAN 2:
Wherever. These people in Europe will get you two years' asylum, that's part of the package. The benefit is your status is legal for at least two years. When you get political asylum you¿re entitled to welfare money, which is enough to enable you not to work. If you don't want to stay in Europe, you can go to France. There's a tunnel to Britain, and a ferry. You pay these people 50,000 rupees to get to London.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
But Mohammed says Rafiq doesn't want to go via France, he wants to go direct. He's told it'll cost £10,000. He'll need a visa, and have to go to the British High Commission for an interview with the embassy staff.

"MOHAMMED":
The interview is a bit daunting because this guy's English is not very good.

MAN 2:
No, no, it's not like that. When I take £10,000 from you, the whole amount doesn't go in my pocket. The ticket is bought from that money, and the payment to the embassy, and the immigration people.

"MOHAMMED":
If you pay the embassy staff, is that a guarantee?

MAN 2:
It's their way of working, they don't tell us. You will be told to go to the embassy at a particular time and date, and go to a particular counter.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
He's warned that if he goes to the wrong counter, he's blown it.

MAN 2:
This is a careful scheme, son, we also bribe the immigration officers. They are told that certain people will be arriving on a flight, and they will have to get asylum for them and arrange the documents. It's an international Mafia.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
But there's a problem with fixing an interview at the High Commission to get a visa. That might have worked in the past, when queues like these outside the Commission were a daily feature of life in Islamabad. But, because of heightened security, the embassy is today closed to outsiders. Visa applications are now received by post. They say, of the some 100,000 received every year, 17% get turned down. They¿re aware of the bogus applications, but of the 80,000 who do get permission to get to the UK, how many of those are genuine?

We've been told of another scam. There's a lucrative market in the country for passports with genuine visas in them, and for passports which allow access to the UK. Mohammed has such a passport, a Pakistani passport which says he's a British citizen, and Rafiq could substitute his photos. They've been told all this by another agency, Moon Travel. The agent here explains that it's known as PC in the trade, picture change. With someone else's visa and your own photos, you can get a ticket out of the country.

UNNAMED MAN 3:
(TRANSLATION)
I am offering is a "PC", the necessary documents and a ticket. We pay the boarding and immigration people, everyone is paid off. A man came to me, like you. He had a beard, I told him to shave it off, he did. I bought a ticket for him, he's in Frankfurt now. I can get you to a UK airport because you are a Pathan, and all Pathans in North West Frontier Province can be Afghans. Only the day before yesterday, I sent a person from Pakistan to the UK via Qatar with documents I prepared for him. He was a Pakistani passenger.

"MOHAMMED":
And he has reached London?

MAN 3:
He has reached London and he has been accepted as an asylum case. Of course, he didn't show them the documents. He destroyed them and told them that he was from Jalalabad (in Afghanistan).

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
The picture change operation takes them to Islamabad, where they're told they'll find the experts who do the job properly. The agent arranges to collect the passport by courier. We're not allowed anywhere near the lab where the picture change is done. One week later, the passport is returned, it is an expert job. Rafiq is told that if he now wants to go to the UK, the total package will cost £11,000. But, while they're in the Pakistani capital, they hear of yet another route to the UK.

They meet Mr Nadeem in the Blue Area shopping centre. He says he can get hold of a genuine visa sticker from the British High Commission.

MR NADEEM:
(TRANSLATION)
The sticker is rainbow coloured. When you get to the airport, they'll recognise it. It'll be a genuine sticker, but it won't be recorded on the embassy computers, that's the difference. But otherwise it's genuine. I've got three people through this way.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
But could they now get to the UK with these documents alone?

MR NADEEM:
According to my experience, the two toughest airport immigration services in the world are the Australian and the Pakistani. Here, they can tell you're lying by looking at your face, so unless they're paid to co-operate, no one can get through. You have to make a deal with them. Unless the immigration officer has accepted a bribe, you can't get through.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Mohammed leaves, and instructs the agent to get him a visa sticker, which he¿ll put in his new Pakistani passport. But he travels back to the UK on his British passport. Rafiq stays in Pakistan.

Back in England, I took Mohammed's Pakistani passport with its illegal sticker to a reputable British immigration lawyer, and asked him whether it would work? He magnified it, and compared it with one of his client's passports, containing a legally obtained visa sticker.

KALA KHAN:
(Immigration Lawyer, GK Associates)
Looking at it, you can see the seal, there¿s a crown over it. That is very, very genuine. It¿s one thing that cannot be forged. As you can see, it¿s exactly the same set-up, and the colours are exactly the same. This visa would enable somebody to board a flight from Islamabad, and it would not surprise me if that particular passenger was able to land at the airport in the UK.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
I then showed it to a UK Government visa expert, who said it was a good forgery, compiled from genuine stickers. He couldn't say whether it would get you out of Pakistan, but said it would be spotted at Heathrow. But of course, all the agents tell their customers to destroy their documents on arrival in the UK.

The Foreign Office have told Newsnight that the phenomenon of the undocumented asylum seeker is a world-wide problem, and a growing one. So long as demand to get to the UK increases, so will the problem of the counterfeit visa. As soon as their technical experts uncover one method, they say, the counterfeiters come up with another.

The reasons behind the illegal dash for the UK are mostly economic, so what can a young man expect as a return on his £10,000 or so investment to get here? He'll find that there's a network of lawyers and employers to help, but he's unlikely to earn much money.

Mohammed took the secret camera to the textile area of Blackburn, and posing as a new arrival, talked to Pakistani workers.

"MOHAMMED":
Do they take people without documentation?

UNNAMED MAN 4:
(TRANSLATION)
Yes, without papers, they do take people.

"MOHAMMED":
What rate do they pay?

MAN 4:
£2.50.

SUE LLOYD-ROBERTS:
Working at £2.50 an hour, it would take years to pay back the cost of the illegal documents and the journey. But that message does not seem to be getting back to Pakistan, where the agents are confident that hundreds more will raise the money, and try their luck.

KIRSTY WARK:
The Government declined our invitation to come on the programme to discuss the issues raised in Sue Lloyd-Roberts's film. However, in a statement, the Home Office told us that new measures introduced in the latest Asylum Act "will tackle the widepread abuse of the asylum system....", and that its screening process "can identify cases where we have doubts about a person's claimed nationality".

This transcript was produced from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight. It has been checked against the programme as broadcast, however Newsnight can accept no responsibility for any factual inaccuracies. We will be happy to correct serious errors.