A Sikh priest who helped people enter Britain illegally has been jailed for seven years

Andrew Heath:

Jaswant Singh Kalsi, aged 47, led prayers at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara Temple in Craven Road, Rugby, between November 2003 and December 2004.

But at Warwick Crown Court yesterday, he admitted 13 counts of assisting unlawful immigration into the UK between March and December 2004.

He had been charging people between £200 and £700 for his help in entering the UK, and was arrested after the temple committee discovered his activities and reported them to the police.

But Judge Marten Coates told him the true extent of his deception was far greater than just the 13 counts Kalsi admitted.

He told Kalsi: “Those identify the instances when you have successfully facilitated the unlawful entry into the United Kingdom of people from India.

“The indictment does not cover the full extent of your criminality because many applications were unsuccessful.”

During an earlier hearing, the court heard Kalsi, of Kimberley Road, Rugby, created a second fictitious temple called the Guru Nanak Sikh Durbar Mission at his home address.

Using that name, he encouraged people in India to apply to the British High Commission for visas to visit the UK for religious education or to work as a priest.

He then used the two temples to sponsor applications.

His crimes were eventually discovered after the temple committee terminated his services because he was going to India too often.

When they went into the house in Kimberley Road they found paperwork falsely showing Kalsi to be their president.

They also discovered £7,000 in currencies, a printing kit with the real and the bogus temple addresses and letters from them supporting visa applications.

Jailing Kalsi, Judge Coates told him: “In my judgement yours was a well thought-out, well planned and sophisticated operation which you engaged in for profit.

“It was an operation which you conducted by abusing your position as a priest. I am told, and I am not surprised, that your activities have offended the community which took you in.”

Hopefully the people he helped enter Britain illegally will be deported.