BRIDE AND GLOOM FOR GIRLS IN WEDDING SCAM

Sunday Mirror, Jul 14, 2002 by NICOLA TALLANT

TWO Irish "brides-for-sale" had their cover blown because they complained when their single-mum social welfare payments were cut off.

The marriage-for-passport scam was uncovered after they lost their single mothers allowance for selling themselves to Nigerian grooms.

The women from Dublin went to gardai after social welfare cut them off when their names appeared on a Wicklow marriage registry list.

They told officers that they had sold themselves into a marriage of convenience for EUR2,000-a-piece - but never thought the scam would lose them their unmarried mum status.

Now the Garda Immigration Bureau is investigating the extent of the fraud, which they believe is going on around the country.

Officers say that the racket, which allows the 'groom' to apply for residency in Ireland, is organised by a Nigerian gang who organise bogus weddings in registry offices in isolated areas around the country.

"Basically everyone dresses up to the nines and there is even a reception afterwards so as not to arouse suspicion," a source said.

The scam came to the attention of the Immigration Bureau after two women approached officers in Dublin to complain that they had been cut off from single mothers allowance.

When questioned, they revealed that they had agreed to a bogus wedding arrangement with two Nigerian men who paid them EUR2,000-a- piece to say "I do."

Investigations have uncovered elaborate plans that led to the women participating in what have been dubbed "white weddings" by gangs throughout Europe who are running similar scams.

The source added: "Their boyfriends went with them to Wicklow and they were ordered to go to a very rural part of the county where they had been booked in to a registry office.

"When they got there they met their husband-to-be and guests who were also hired for the day.

"As far as we can make out there was a bit of a do afterwards in case anyone got suspicious."

Gardai believe that the deal includes a clause that the "brides" have to remain married for three years to their husbands while they apply for citizenship.

"A number of years ago, gardai launched an investigation into a massive brides-for-sale racket when it was discovered that women were being flown to the UK from Ireland to marry asylum-seeking grooms.

One former "bride for sale" from Co Westmeath told how she earned less than pounds 1,000 for her part.

A local woman who was the mastermind behind the Irish operation was never charged as officers could not collect enough evidence for the Director of Public Prosecutions.