Arrests made in sham marriages racket

 

GARDAÍ investigating a suspected sham marriages racket in south Mayo have made three arrests.

The probe, which is centred on Ballinrobe, was confirmed  by Superintendent Michael Cryan, head of the Claremorris Garda District.

“Three people have been arrested for suspected trafficking and detained,' Supt Cryan told The Connaught Telegraph. 

“Our investigation is ongoing,' he continued. “There are a lot of enquiries still to be conducted both here and in an another country.'

The Ballinrobe investigation centres on the suspected trafficking of females from eastern Europe into the area for arranged marriages to Pakistanis.

Women are being recruited in countries such as Lithuania and Latvia and are being offered sums of money – reputedly up to €3,000 – to come here to marry failed asylum seekers or natives of Asia whose visas have run out.

Nationwide in recent years there has been an upsurge in arranged marriages mostly involving women from eastern Europe and Pakistanis.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau suspect bogus companies are being set up to provide fake employment credentials for eastern European women who are brought to Ireland to take part in arranged marriages.

Gardaí are seeking to detect and prevent civil marriages where they believe that one partner was entering the marriage for the purpose of acquiring EU residency rights.

The Ballinrobe investigation is expected to be a lengthy one and may involve garda officers travelling to Lithuania to carry out enquiries there.