UK (BBN)-Hundreds of Bangladeshis have been flying into Britain for one day to claim housing benefit -receiving around £9,000 each on average, it was claimed on Monday.
The Italy-based migrants allegedly arrived at London Stansted Airport before going to interviews at the Jobcentre and getting National Insurance numbers for use on bogus pay slips, reports the Mail Online.
All they needed then were fake addresses to help them apply for handouts as European Union citizens - and the fraud is said to have made millions of pounds over three years.
Police, council and Government investigators launched an investigation last year after reports of many Bangladeshis with Italian passports arriving at Stansted with return flights on the same day.
The probe - by the Metropolitan Police, Redbridge Council in east London and the Department for Work and Pensions - prompted a raid on one flat in Bow used as an address by 400 claimants.
Another swoop came at the Ilford-based charity Families for Survival UK. Its trustee Asma Khanam, 46, was arrested at her house nearby, reported The Sun crime editor Mike Sullivan.
The charity works in countries such as Bangladesh and Kenya to provide accommodation, food, education, financial assistance and medical treatment for the disabled, elderly and orphan children.
Khanam and Habibur Rahman, 35, were both charged with conspiracy to defraud and bailed after appearing at Redbridge Magistrates’ Court. Eight other charged people will be in court this week.
A DWP spokesman told MailOnline this morning: ‘Our fraud investigators have powers to track benefit cheats around the world and bring them before the courts.
‘We are determined to crack down on people who abuse the system, so that benefits only go to those who really need this help.
‘In addition to any sentence imposed by the courts, fraudsters must pay back all the money they falsely obtained and face a criminal record for life.’