- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
As per The Sun, the suspect, stationed at Terminal 5 in Heathrow Airport, is accused of exploiting a loophole to facilitate illegal travel across the BA network, charging customers £25k per trip without necessary visa documents.
By: Shubham Ghosh
BRITISH law-enforcement authorities are collaborating with their Indian counterparts to locate a British Airways (BA) supervisor who is suspected to be evading justice in India.
The individual, a 24-year-old whose identity remains undisclosed, is allegedly implicated in a £3 million visa scam dating back over five years. As per The Sun newspaper, the suspect, stationed at Terminal 5 in Heathrow Airport, is accused of exploiting a loophole to facilitate illegal travel across the BA network, charging customers £25,000 per trip in the absence of necessary visa documents.
Following his arrest on January 6 and subsequent release on bail, the suspect reportedly absconded with his partner, who is also employed in BA ground services. Authorities speculate that he fled to India, where he purportedly acquired multiple properties. British law enforcement is actively engaged in cooperation with Indian counterparts to apprehend the individual and address the alleged offenses.
“As part of his fiddle, he got clients, most from India, to fly to the UK on a temporary visitor visa where he arranged for them to jet elsewhere,” the newspaper reported.
“Other clients were UK-based asylum claimants who feared being returned to their country of origin. Canadian authorities raised the alarm after years of BA flights to Toronto and Vancouver on which arrivals would immediately declare asylum,” it added.
An investigation into the issue discovered that all passengers were checked in by the same man, who wrongly verified travellers, had an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) to enter a chosen country.
An ETA can be applied for by a passenger only in their country of origin and therefore should have been rejected.
“He exploited a loophole knowing that immigration checks are no longer carried out by officials but are left to airline staff,” ‘The Sun’ newspaper quoted a source as saying.
“By inputting wrong data, and claiming eTA documents had been secured, he got people to countries they had no permission to enter in the first place. On arrival, the bogus passengers would shred their documents and claim asylum. Many jetted to Britain to pay him to get them to Canada,” the source told The Sun, adding that the full extent of the scam remains unknown.
“We’re assisting the authorities with their investigation,” a BA spokesperson said.
The airline terminated the contracts of the supervisor and his partner, the report added.
(With PTI inputs)
