Gardaí believe a Dublin-based international crime gang has arranged up to 1,000 sham marriages in the Republic and generated between €10 million and €20 million through the fees it has charged.
The beneficiaries of the marriages of convenience were mostly men from Asia who could secure the right to live and work in the Republic or any EU member state by marrying a European woman.
A team of more than 200 gardaí taking part in Operation Vantage moved in on several suspects throughout yesterday.
They searched residential and business properties in Dublin and a number of other counties.
Eleven suspects were detained. Gardaí believe some of them were leading the scam while others were providing the vital logistical support required, including the fabrication of fake residency and work histories.
The investigation, which is being spearheaded by the Garda National Immigration Bureau, began in August when new legislation gave gardaí the power to intervene in what they believed were bogus marriages.
22 detained
Gardaí said before yesterday’s co-ordinated raids took place, 22 “bogus brides and grooms” had been detained in ongoing operations since the investigation began.
After building intelligence on people in Ireland and abroad suspected of organising sham marriages, the Garda team moved in on 42 search sites in Dublin, Meath, Kildare, Longford, Louth and Cork. Half of the searches occurred in Dublin, where a foreign exchange company was one of the key premises raided. A large amount of false documentation along with laptop computers, mobile phones and other devices containing data were seized.
These will be analysed to test whether approximately 1,000 marriages in the 12 months up to last August are bogus, as gardaí suspect.
Gardaí found about €30,000 in cash during yesterday’s searches, along with a stun gun, false marriage certificates, driving licences and other identity documents.
The men involved were mostly from Pakistan, India and Mauritius and were paying between €10,000 and €20,000 each to marry women from eastern Europe and Portugal.
Small sums of money
The women involved were paid small sums of money and, at the end of the process, often received less that had been promised, according to Det Garda Supt Stephen Courage of the immigration bureau.
As well as the bureau, also involved in the operation are the Criminal Assets Bureau, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service, the Department of Social Protection, the Revenue Commissioners, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Workplace Relations Commission.
Gardaí believe the criminals leading the enterprise have contacts throughout Europe and Asia, who generate the brides and grooms for the bogus marriages, and are operating the same scam in other jurisdictions, including the UK.
