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´óÏó´«Ã½ News investigation uncovers criminal network
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A team of reporters has spent months in Southall, West London,
living and working as "faujis" – the Punjabi term used to
describe the hidden community of young, mostly male, poor farmers
from the Punjab working in this country illegally.
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Recording hours of footage in this hidden, illicit world, the
team found a thriving trade in fake documents, widespread illegal
job practices, and squalid housing – in just one square mile,
more than 40 houses packed with faujis were identified.
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Many faujis choose to come here knowing the risks and knowing
they are commiting a crime; arriving on the backs of lorries or
outstaying their visit visas and buying fake documents to work
here.
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Their invisible status also means they are locked out of
the system, with no rights and no protection, surrounded by
forgers, criminals and ruthless employers.
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One man says he has lived in the UK as an illegal immigrant for a number
of years. He was open about the fake documents he could obtain
and boasting about customers in Sheffield, Bradford and Coventry.
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He told the ´óÏó´«Ã½ team he could get people into the country with a fake "original" passport, that it could be "checked" at City
Airport by paying someone working there £250 to scan it through
the passport machines.
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Another supplier of fake documents boasted of his thousands of
pounds of business and shows his stash of forged and real ID
documents kept hidden inside a loudspeaker in his house.
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He said he could supply "any form of Home Office ID, any NI
[National Insurance] number, any Health and Safety, any [driving]
licence, any European licence, and any bill, BT, gas,
electricity. And if anybody needs an original provisional or
original licence that is also available – but very expensive. And
any passport."
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Later, talking about the lower quality, fake driving licences he
can supply for £250, he said: "Believe you me, people are driving
buses with this."
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The ´óÏó´«Ã½ also recorded him offering to open bank
accounts, and on the phone to his forger, casually "ordering" a
genuine passport for the next morning.
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He claimed that, armed
with the right documents, he could get our man employed in a
warehouse "or if you want catering work, I can get you a job at
the airport".
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One of the faujis laughs and says: "The whole of Southall came on
the back of the lorries, not only us. Ask anybody, but no-one
tells the truth around here."
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The same men said they had come to
the UK illegally through Russia. The journey took a year and they
survived on a diet of bread and eggs.
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Documents are important because they provide a sort of
legitimacy. What the Faujis fear is simple: being caught and sent
home. But with the documents they can get a bank account and do
better paid work.
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The undercover team found a chip shop where a
fauji said they had been employed for 12-hour days, six-days
a week at £150 – or about £2 an hour.
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The ´óÏó´«Ã½ undercover reporter
told the owner that he had no paperwork. The owner told him "do
not mention this, otherwise you may be nicked".
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After working
hard for a 14-hour day without any break the owner then refuses
to pay the man because he said he left before two weeks of being
employed.
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Our man then says he arrived with other faujis at a
building site in North London and was put to work at height with
no interview, training, safety advice or equipment.
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He earnt £35
for a 12-hour day, that's less than £3 an hour.
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The ´óÏó´«Ã½ confronted the men who had sold us fake documents – they both
denied it and said we had the wrong person.
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One even tried to
show the ´óÏó´«Ã½ his original driving licence, confident that would
reassure us of his innocence – yet on secret camera he had
previously revealed it to be an expensive fake.
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The owner of the fish and chip shop in Southall has told the ´óÏó´«Ã½
that he does not employ illegal immigrants and that all his staff
have the correct paperwork and permission to reside and work in
the UK and that he did not pay our man because it was a training
day.
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´óÏó´«Ã½ News Publicity
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