Bangladeshi man jailed for using fake paperwork to gain job (From Dorset Echo)

Bangladeshi man jailed for using fake paperwork to gain job

10:30am Wednesday 30th January 2013 in News By Harry Hogger

A BANGLADESHI man who used fake identification to get work at an Indian restaurant in Dorchester has been jailed.

Mohammed Mohi Uddin, 30, was sentenced to six months in prison after admitting possession of a false identification document with improper attempt and using a false instrument.

Prosecutor Anita Gibson-Lee said when immigration officers executed a warrant at the Spice Centre in High West Street on January 9 the defendant produced a copy of a false Portuguese passport as identification.

Officers also searched Uddin’s room at the premises and discovered a fraudulent National Insurance card.

Miss Gibson-Lee said that when Uddin was interviewed he said he had entered the United Kingdom in 2006 on a one-year work visa but when that expired had continued to live in the country and work, mainly doing jobs for food and lodgings in London.

He told officers he applied for further leave to stay in the country two or three years later but that was still being resolved.

Four months before the raid he had bought the copy of the Portuguese passport and the National Insurance card and had used these documents to get a job at the Spice Centre.

Miss Gibson-Lee said: “There is no suggestion this defendant used these documents to obtain entry to the UK.”

She added that Uddin was a man of previous good character and separate immigration proceedings were under way to determine whether he should be deported back to Bangladesh.

Lee Christmas, mitigating, said his client had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and was actually hoping to be deported.

He said: “He doesn’t intend to contest being deported and wishes to be deported as soon as possible.”

Judge Roger Jarvis sentenced Uddin to six months in prison for each offence, with the sentences to be served concurrently.

Spice Centre manager Abu Baker said after the sentencing that he had done all the usual checks of identification as he would with any new employee and was unaware the documents were fraudulent.

He said: “Unfortunately he was using fake ID, which I didn’t know.”