Home Office reviews 100+ asylum claims linked to Whitechapel LGBT group after two arrests

Right · 2The Home Office is reviewing more than 100 potentially fraudulent asylum applications linked to Apanjon, a Bangladeshi LGBT organisation based in Whitechapel, east London. 1 2 Right · 2Two suspected ringleaders were arrested in early-morning raids by Immigration Enforcement officers; the Daily Mail says about 12 officers raided a block in Whitechapel on Tuesday. 2 1 Right · 2Investigators suspect applicants submitted fabricated documents, staged photographs and false letters of support. The Express reports allegations that people in the network charged straight migrants between £1,000 and £4,500 to fabricate evidence, and the Mail says the Home Office said the Bangladeshi men often claimed to be gay after first being refused asylum on political grounds. 1 2

Right · 2The Mail stresses that the arrested men and Apanjon are not shown to be guilty of wrongdoing and are only the focus of ongoing inquiries. The Home Office has said anyone found guilty in connection with the investigation would be removed from the country. 2 1 Right · 2Both papers cite a case in which an immigration judge ruled that a Bangladeshi claimant identified as MHK had submitted contrived evidence and fake photographs; the ruling was upheld on appeal and he lost his right to remain. Both also cite Saheed Azeez, who was granted asylum in 2023 after claiming he might be killed for being gay in Nigeria and was later jailed for more than five years over a £220,000 parcel fraud. 1 2 Right · 2Figures show 2,133 asylum seekers whose claims involved sexual orientation were allowed to stay in 2023, up from 762 in 2022 and 677 in 2021. The Mail says this is four times the pre-Covid number, and both papers partly attribute the rise to a pandemic-era backlog. 2 1

Right · 2Ejel Khan, founder of the Muslim LGBT Network, told the Mail: "It's a massive problem. A lot of people are doing it." He said people had offered him money for letters of recommendation while admitting they were not gay, and that he refused. Campaigner Peter Tatchell said that safeguarding the asylum system's integrity matters so that real victims of homophobic persecution are not overlooked. 2 1 Right · 2Columnist Paul Bracchi goes further than the news facts, arguing that ever more migrants, aided by "Lefty Lawyers" and refugee charities, are faking their sexuality for political reasons or money. The Express says critics make similar allegations but adds that such claims do not establish wrongdoing by those organisations generally. 2 1 Right · 2Both place the issue in the legal background: a 2010 Supreme Court ruling ended the policy of expecting gay asylum seekers to conceal their sexuality, and Theresa May, then home secretary, introduced guidance for assessing such claims. The Mail argues this made fair treatment of truthful claimants possible but also easier to circumvent, while the Express says the policy has helped genuine claimants but raised concerns about exploitation. 1 2

Right · 1The Mail also cites an April BBC undercover recording in which an adviser at Worcester LGBT allegedly offered to help a reporter memorise a false story; the group's founder strongly denied wrongdoing. 2