Posing as a barrister and immigration advisor, Surbiton resident Munir Rafiq conned more than £100,000 out of desperate immigrants looking to settle in the UK.

Now remanded in custody until September 23 when he will face his sentence, Rafiq was found guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court of seven counts of forgery, three of having false instruments with intent and one of possessing a replica Home Office stamp.

Though he denies any wrong doing, insisting incriminating evidence belongs to friends, he was accused of offering bogus fast-track British residence to would-be immigrants and is thought to have accrued far more than the �100,000 he's know to have acquired.

Chief immigration Officer with the London Command Crime Group, Adrian Norvill said "His conviction removes a significant player from serious organised immigration crime."

Read more in The Scotsman...

Update...

Rafiq has now been convicted and sentenced to 46 months imprisonment.

Read more in the The Kingston Guardian...