Man and woman are arrested after legal advisers told asylum seekers to pretend to be gay if they wanted to stay in the country

Published: 16:15, 6 May 2026 | Updated: 16:23, 6 May 2026 A man and a woman have been arrested after legal advisers were revealed to be telling asylum seekers to pretend to be gay to stay in the country.  In April, an undercover investigation caught a legal adviser on camera telling an undercover reporter posing as a migrant to pretend to be gay so he could claim asylum in Britain.  It prompted the launch of a Government probe, which led to two arrests today by the Criminal and Financial Investigations section of the Home Office's Immigration Enforcement Team following coordinated raids in east London.  A woman in her late 40s was arrested on suspicion of providing an immigration service contrary to section 91 of the Immigration and Asylum Act.  A man in his early twenties was also arrested on suspicion of fraud, according to a Home Office source.  An investigation by the BBC last month exposed a shadowy network of asylum experts charging up to £7,000 to coach migrants whose visas are running out how to pose as gay.  The advisers were also revealed to be providing clients with cover stories and telling them how to falsify evidence - including supporting letters, photos from LGBT nightclubs and medical reports.  The migrants then claim asylum on the basis that they risk deadly persecution if they return to Pakistan or Bangladesh, where homosexual acts are illegal.  A woman (pictured in the pink coat) was arrested today by Criminal and Financial Investigations section of the Home Office's Immigration Enforcement Team One adviser filmed during the investigation told an undercover reporter how to pretend to be gay to claim asylum. The identity of the woman arrested has not been confirmed Immigration Minister Mike Tapp, who attended one of the raids on Wednesday, said that the advice given undermined the claims of genuine asylum seekers. Mr Tapp told the BBC: 'If lawyers, or so-called lawyers, and legal advisers are out there providing this dodgy advice, we're coming after that. And as you've seen today, we'll make those arrests.  'Our asylum system is there for people who are genuinely fleeing persecution and war and I'm really proud of that. But people that are trying to abuse it will not be accepted.'  Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Mail: 'This exposes yet more migration madness. It should not have taken an investigation for the Government to finally wake up to the issue of fraudulent asylum claims. 'Labour has waved through over 70,000 illegal Channel crossings since the election with near-zero deportations. They have lost control of our borders and are too weak to take the necessary action to stop all illegal immigration. 'The Conservatives are the only party with a plan to ban asylum claims from illegal arrivals, leave the ECHR and remove every illegal arrival within a week through our BORDERS plan. It is a shame Labour do not have the backbone to do it.' Overall asylum claims topped 100,000 in 2025, of which 35 per cent were made by people whose student, work or tourist visas had expired - far outstripping small boat arrivals. The investigation suggests the system is being systematically targeted by legal advisers seeking to extract fees in return for helping these migrants stay in the country.  Migrants were also advised to attend LGBTI events and falsify their claim with photos from LGBTI nightcubs. Pictured: Worcester LGBT Eid Milan Party at Beckton Community Centre At a Worcester LGBT event in Beckton, east London, attended by more than 175 men from across the UK, several people openly admitted to undercover reporters that virtually none were gay Undercover BBC News reporters posed as students facing visa expiry and approached several legal advisers.  At Law & Justice Solicitors in east London, paralegal Mazedul Hasan Shakil passed a reporter's details to Tanisa Khan, an advisor to Worcester LGBT - which describes itself as a support group for gay and lesbian asylum seekers.  Ms Khan was secretly filmed telling the journalist he needed to 'claim to be an LGBT person'. When he said 'but I'm not', she replied by saying, 'that's it, you're not'. She offered a £2,500 package including club photos, tickets, letters claiming sexual relationships and an endorsement from Worcester LGBT.  The adviser boasted of her success rate and suggested the 'client's' imaginary wife could also apply for asylum by claiming to be a lesbian.  At a Worcester LGBT event in Beckton, east London, attended by more than 175 men from across the UK, several people openly admitted to undercover reporters that virtually none were gay.  One said: 'Nobody is a gay here. Not even 0.01 per cent are gay.'  The group's website claims it supports only genuine LGBT asylum seekers and is formally recognised by the Home Office.  At Connaught Law in London, senior adviser Aqeel Abbasi quoted £7,000 for the service and assured the reporter the risk of refusal was 'very low'.  He told the reporter to have his photo taken in gay clubs and find someone to pose as a fake male partner.  Ana Gonzalez, an immigration lawyer with 30 years' experience, said the likes of Ms Khan were 'clearly breaking the law'.  'People like that [are] just really making things harder for the legitimate asylum seekers and refugees out there,' she said.  'Particularly for something that is as intangible as being LGBTI, really, because when you are a victim of torture, when certain things happen to you, often there is a way of evidencing that, in an objective way.'  After being confronted by BBC News, Ms Khan blamed communication difficulties for a 'misunderstanding' and said she doesn't speak Urdu fluently. She denied telling the reporter to make a false claim or offering to create fabricated evidence.  Law & Justice Solicitors said Ms Khan had no professional connection to the firm and that it was investigating 'any potential unauthorised access' to its London office.  Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in response to the investigation: 'Anyone abusing protections for people fleeing persecution over gender or sexual orientation is beyond contempt.  'Let me be clear: try to defraud the British people to enter or remain in the UK and your asylum claim will be refused, your support cut off, and you will find yourself on a one-way flight out of Britain.  'Sham lawyers facilitating this abuse will face the full force of the law. With them behind bars, their dirty money will be seized and reinvested to shut down the crime they once bankrolled.'  Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.