London: A raid at a printing unit in Bangladesh has revealed it was producing fake British documents on "an industrial scale", it was reported here.
The Sun reported that thousands of illegal immigrants could have entered Britain using the bogus papers printed in the "visa factory".
The printing plant in Sylhet province had been operational for years, believe officials.
Besides 150 counterfeit British visas, stolen passports from four countries, including Britain, were found.
Eight arrests were made after a UK Border Agency officer detected one of the forged visas.
Sleuths say the syndicate was charging up to 2,600 pounds a time, making a neat pile of 640,000 pounds a year.
"The factory was producing fake UK visas on an industrial scale. It involved offices around the country," a diplomatic source was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, Reshad Nebin, a senior British High Commission official, was arrested for allegedly demanding bribes from applicants to return their passports with the correct stamps.
The Sun said that an official at the India-based contractors paid to handle Britain's visa applications - VFS Global - was also understood to have been arrested.
IANS
First Published: Friday, September 23, 2011, 19:24