How an airline worker allegedly exploited Canada’s immigration laws

Accused of not checking for documentation

A former British Airways employee has fled to India after being arrested for allegedly helping Indian citizens get around immigration laws so they could claim asylum in Canada.

As initially reported in The Times of London on Tuesday, the employee who worked at Heathrow Airport in London, U.K., is said to have enabled people without proper documentation to get on flights to Canada so that they could claim asylum upon entering the country. He allegedly charged £25,000 per person or about $43,000. The alleged scam is estimated to have made 3 million pounds or over $5.1 million.

After taking the money from the Canada-bound asylum seekers, the 24-year-old former employee allegedly told them to fly from India to the U.K. on a temporary visa.

According to the Times of London, Canadian immigration officials raised concerns after noticing an influx of people flying to Toronto or Vancouver without proper documentation, and claiming asylum.

Normally, airline employees would check if passengers are eligible to fly to their destination, but, using his position at British Airways, the 24-year-old was allegedly able to falsely claim that his victims had the proper documentation for travel to Canada. The former employee’s process was allegedly to make sure that the prospective immigrants came to his check-in desk at the airport. Later, he would allegedly meet them again during the boarding process and falsely report they had the correct documents a second time.

The former British Airways employee was arrested on Jan. 6, but after making bail, he and his partner, who also worked for British Airways, fled to India, where he reportedly owns multiple properties and is still on the run from U.K. and Indian authorities. If he is captured, India and the U.K. have an extradition treaty.

British Airways, said in a statement to National Post that they “are assisting the authorities with their investigation.”

This is not the first time that Indian citizens have entered Canada on false pretences. Over the past half-decade, dozens of Indian students faced deportation after unknowingly using falsified acceptance letters to Canadian universities.

National Post reached out to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada for comment, but did not hear back before publication.