CRIMINALS from west London who set up a series of fake companies and produced false payslips as part of an immigration racket have been jailed.

The gang created counterfeit paperwork to support fraudulent highly skilled Tier 1 visa applications successfully submitted to the Home Office.

Sums of money were transferred from between bank accounts to give the impression the applicants were earning a lucrative salary in specialist jobs when in fact they were employed in low paid unskilled positions such as shelf stacking in a supermarket - and as such were not eligible for that type of visa.

Those involved were convicted of conspiring to defraud the Home Office following an 11-week trial at Harrow Crown Court.

n Shahzad Sultan, a 37-year-old Brit, of Church Lane, Kingsbury, was sentenced to seven years and six months in jail;

n Salman Shahzad, a 37-year-old Pakistani, of Greenford Road, Greenford, was tried in his absence after absconding and was sentenced to eight years in jail;

n Devashish Shah, a 34-year-old Indian, of St Paul's Avenue, Harrow, was sentenced to two years and six months' imprisonment;

n Shanker Bhandari, a 36-year-old Nepali, of Swanage Waye, Hayes, was jailed for four years and four months;

n Fida Hussain, a 34-year-old Pakistani, of North Road, Southall, was sentenced to four years and six months' jail;

Hussain admitted obtaining leave to remain by deception in relation to his own leave in the UK before the trial started and was sentenced to six months to be served concurrently.

Shahzad was found guilty of obtaining leave to remain by deception in relation to his own application, and was sentenced to a further nine months to be served consecutively.

The last co-defendant Hafiz Ullah, 34, a 34-year-old Brit, of North Road, Southall, was sentenced to 51 weeks' imprisonment after admitting a charge of money laundering in relation to £80,000 before the trial started.

The gang were arrested by the Home Office’s West London Criminal Investigations team in October and December 2012.

The gang’s business address at Crown House, North Circular Road, was also searched. Officers seized dozens of applications, thousands of blank payslips, 27 mobile phones, 36 computers/hard drives and £15,000 in cash.

The jury's guilty verdicts were returned on Tuesday June 17 and they were sentenced two days later.

David Fairclough, from the Home Office Immigration Enforcement Criminal Investigations team, said: “This was a fairly sophisticated scam, designed to help people who would otherwise have no right to be here stay in the UK.

"Our officers’ thorough investigation has helped put this gang behind bars.

“The message is clear to anyone thinking of doing something similar. The Home Office has dedicated teams with the resource and expertise to catch up with you and bring you to justice.

“We will not tolerate immigration abuse, and as an organisation are cracking down on it all over the country. As the sentences handed out show, those who seek to exploit the immigration system will face heavy penalties.”

The Home Office is seeking to refuse all visa applications that were suspended as a result of this investigation. Steps are also being taken to curtail the leave to remain of any individuals who had already benefitted from the scam.

Immigration enforcement removal action will be taken where appropriate.