The criminals were led by Steven Kanaventi, 39, of Mulliner Street, Coventry, and Alfred Adekoya, 47, of Kingslake Street, London. Both men were each sentenced to three years four months and two weeks imprisonment at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, 26 January.
The pair had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to manufacture a fake document at an earlier hearing.
From late 2015 until June 2017, officers led by the Immigration Enforcement's Criminal and Financial Investigation (CFI) Team gathered evidence which led to conviction of each member.
During the course of the investigation, officers discovered wide-scale distribution of fake British passports, British residence permits, degree certificates and CSCS cards. Prices ranged from £900 for a passport to £200 for the CSCS card and degree certificate.
Mr Adekoya was arrested on 20 June last year after making an exchange inside a betting shop in Woolwich with a man subsequently identified as Luke Nkanta (29). When Mr Adekoya was stopped and searched shortly afterwards, he was found to be in possession of three fake British passports.
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Officers also raided the home of Abdul Azeeza, 57, on 20 June in Missenden, Inville Road. During the operation, they found a fake residence permit, a fake passport as well as some paraphernalia; including specially adapted tools for dismantling passports, threads for stitching, paint thinners and laminating equipment – used in the manufacture of fake ID documents. He also had numerous orders for fake documents, some on his phone and some completed on betting slips.
Mr Kanaventi was arrested at his home address just over a week later on 28 June. Another three accomplices were also arrested on the same day; Paul Kanaventi, 37, of Forster Street, Nottingham, Victor Ariyo, 53, of Rye Hill Park, London and Madalitso Majawa, 33, of Ombersley Close, Redditch.
Ariyo, Azeeza, Paul Kanaventi, Nkanta and Majawa had all pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing. Ariyo admitted conspiracy to manufacture a fake document and money laundering. Azeeza admitted possessing fake documents and possessing equipment with the intention of making fake documents. Paul Kanaventi admitted money laundering. Nkanta and Majawa both admitted to possessing fake ID documents with improper intention.
The full breakdown of the sentences are as follows;
• Steven Kanaventi – three years four months and two weeks
• Adekoya – three years four months and two weeks
• Paul Kanaventi – nine months
• Azeeza – four years
• Ariyo – three years
• Nkanta – one year four months
• Majawa – six months
CFI will now pursue the confiscation of £135,000 of cash under the Proceeds of Crime Act which was sitting in a bank account belonging to Mr Ariyo.
Inspector Ben Thomas from CFI said: "The criminal business that Kanaventi and Adekoya were running was designed to undermine the fundamental immigration rule that if you have no legal status in the UK, you have no right to work.
"Their customers hoped that the fake documents would be enough to convince prospective employers that they were entitled to work, in turn allowing them to a build a life for themselves in the UK to which they were simply not entitled.
"By bringing Kanaventi, Adekoya and their associates to justice we have stopped a concerted, systematic and financially motivated assault on the UK's immigration system."
(LM/MH)
