Home office probes immigration scam run from a flat in Motherwell

An investigation has been launched into what officials believe to be a major immigration scam - based in Scotland - in which foreign fraudsters are using fake identities to try and trick their way into Britain.The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal a ‘significant number’ of linked cases are being probed where bogus birth certificates have been used by people submitting their claim to live in the UK.The apparent plot centres on a single residential address in the town of Motherwell, in North Lanarkshire, which has been listed in all of the cases.Under immigration rules, EU or British citizens legitimately living in the UK can become a ‘sponsor’ to family members from overseas when they request a Family Permit to move to Britain.But a series of cases in the immigration courts have highlighted what appears to be an organised attempt to exploit the system using fake documents.In each case, a number of young men from Pakistan applied for Family Permits claiming to be the adult children, und...