Four Nigerians bag 13 years for forging 2,000 UK Marriage Certificates

BY 200 LEVEL MASS COMMUNICATION – PLASU

Four members of a Nigerian gang have been sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison for forging over 2,000 marriage certificates to enable people to live illegally in the UK, according to Sky News UK.

 The defendants—Abraham Alade Olarotimi Onifade, 41, Abayomi Aderinsoye Shodipo, 38, Nosimot Mojisola Gbadamosi, 31, and Adekunle Kabir, 54—were convicted at Woolwich Crown Court in London on Tuesday, August 27, 2024.

The Home Office said the four were part of an organised criminal group that made fraudulent EU Settlement Scheme applications for Nigerian nationals.

They carried out the enterprise between March 2019 and May last year, and were also found to have provided false Nigerian Customary Marriage Certificates and other fraudulent documentation to help applicants remain in the country.

An investigation from the Home Office in the UK and Lagos found more than 2,000 false marriage documents were facilitated by the group, who themselves were Nigerian.