Gambian crime lord jailed over £1m 'fake passport' African immigration scam
Gambian crime lord jailed over £1m 'fake passport' African immigration scam
Hundreds of arrivals seemed routine at the airport as a quiet network kept making every detail safe and familiar but the money trail was hiding something colder.
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Add us as preferred source Comments By Paul Jeeves 13:16, Mon, Jun 29, 2026 Updated: 13:17, Mon, Jun 29, 2026 
A UK based Gambian crime lord whose gang pocketed more than £1 million by doctoring passports so hundreds of people, mainly from Africa, could enter the UK illegally has been snared. The sophisticated plot included the gang making travel arrangements for those coming to the UK, collecting them from the airport, and providing them with places to stay and work.
The gang syndicate would then obtain genuine passports, usually from Gambia, which already had British visas in them and doctor them by adding photos of their clients into the biometric page and the visa. In one example of the operation of the scam, the gang used the passport of a dead Gambian man to bring three people into the country by changing the passport photo each time. Crime lord Lamin Manneh, 51, was sentenced to more than six years in 2024 after admitting to facilitating the illegal entry of two migrants.
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But he has now had six years and eight months added on to that sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration and money laundering.
Jailed alongside Manneh were Alieu Barry, 31, for six years, Mariama Jallow, 46, for four years and 11 months, Ida Chow, 40, for three years and eight months, Musu Sanyang, 49, for two years and seven months, Pa Sanneh, 44, for two years and one month, and Sulayman Samateh, 46, for three years. Dodou Cham, 31, was given a 12-month community order with 60 hours of unpaid work.
All eight pleaded guilty to facilitating unlawful immigration into the UK at earlier hearings. Manneh, Barry, Jallow and Chow have also pleaded guilty to offences relating to the laundering of the proceeds of their criminal activity.
They were charged and prosecuted by specialist lawyers in the organised crime division of the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). At their sentencing at Leeds Crown Court, the CPS acknowledged that while several hundred people had been helped to enter illegally between January 2022 and July 2025, the exact figure will never be known. But Manneh’s mobile phone contained images of 559 unique passports.
The plot began to be uncovered from early 2024 after a man was stopped at Manchester Airport because he was travelling on the passport of a man who had been burgled in Gambia two years earlier and his passports taken. The man who was stopped at the airport eventually admitted paying the equivalent of £5,200 for his fake documents and travel.
Specialist CPS prosecutor Robert Warner said: “This was a sophisticated plot that brought hundreds of people to the UK who had no legal right to be here.
“Lamin Manneh and his gang charged their customers thousands of pounds and offered a one stop shop for migrants seeking to enter the UK illegally.
“They provided fake travel documents, booked flights, and found migrants accommodation and jobs.
“The Crown Prosecution Service will continue to work closely with the Home Office and the police to ensure successful prosecutions of criminal gangs facilitating illegal entry to the UK.”
Minister for Border Security and Asylum, Alex Norris, said: “This government is going after the gangs exploiting our borders for their own profit.
- Lamin Manneh of Stubley Road in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and money laundering. He was given 6yrs 8m for assisting unlawful immigration consecutive to the exiting sentence and 5yrs 4m for money laundering to run concurrently.
- Mariama Jallow of Stubley Road in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and money laundering.
- Alieu Barry of Dark Lane in Batley, West Yorkshire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and money laundering,
- Musu Sanyang of Whiting Avenue in Barking, Essex pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
- Ida Chow of Honour Lea Avenue in Stratford, London pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and money laundering.
- Pa Sanneh of Cemetery Road in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, and entering the UK without leave.
- Dodou Cham of Cemetery Road in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire pleaded guilty to assisting illegal migration.
- Sulayman Samateh of Sissons Green in Middleton, Leeds pleaded guilty to conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration.
“With disruptions to smuggling activity including arrests, convictions and seizures up by nearly 50%, we’re putting these criminals behind bars where they belong.”
The CPS say they will now take Manneh, Barry, Jallow and Chow back to court to bring confiscation proceedings so they cannot keep the substantial profits of their crimes.
Badenoch blasts 'moaning' female Labour MPs over Burnham jobs 'quota'
Kemi Badenoch has told Labour women to earn a job in Andy Burnham's Cabinet instead of demanding they are handed jobs because of their gender.
The Tory leader lashed out today amid reports that female MPs are demanding the de-facto new prime minister introduce a 50:50 gender split 'quota' in his government.
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister also complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts.
But in a scathing article in the Times today Mrs Badenoch told them to 'stop moaning' and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'.
'There are many, many reasons why you shouldn't have any Milibands in the cabinet,' she said.
'But complaining that the boys haven't given them the right jobs or that the boys are taking all the jobs, just shows that Labour's women still don't get it.'
The idea of quotas was also attacked by Baroness Jacqui Smith, Labour's Skills Minister.
Asked by Times Radio if Mr Burnham should reserve jobs for women, she said: 'No, I think what Andy Burnham should be doing is building the very best team around him to change this country.'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs
Amid reports that former foreign secretary David Miliband (above, right, in 2010) is being lined up to return to the role, possibly with his brother Ed as Chancellor, one female minister complained that Burnham could not have 'more Milibands than women' in the top posts
But Mrs Badenoch told them to pipe down and get chosen on merit instead of retreating into 'more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country'
A letter written by the Women's Parliamentary Labour Party and seen by the BBC has called on Mr Burnham to ensure a 50:50 split between men and women in government jobs after he succeeds Sir Keir Starmer.
'We are asking you to demonstrate this change from day one and address the toxicity and misogyny within our own party and government,' it said.
Labour has never had a female leader, while the Conservatives have had three, and Mrs Badenoch urged the government to follow its meritocratic example.
'If you run a meritocracy, then you do not have to worry about jobs for the boys,' she wrote.
'Every woman who is a Conservative MP, every woman who has ever won the leadership, has had to fight to get where she is.
'By contrast, Labour women are demanding guarantees from Burnham. But the truth is he doesn't have to give any guarantees.
'If none of Labour's women are prepared to get their hands dirty and challenge him for the leadership, their demands are toothless.'
'In fact, it's quite revealing that the women's parliamentary Labour Party has written to Burnham asking him to commit himself to at least 50 per cent female ministers.
'This has nothing to do with meritocracy. It is yet more of the failed identity politics that is holding back our country.'
