British Airways worker allegedly runs $6.2m scam from London Heathrow check-in

A British Airways worker is allegedly on the run in India after being accused of coordinating a GBP3m immigration scam from his check-in desk at London’s Heathrow Airport. The unnamed suspect, said to be a 24-year-old man who worked in Terminal 5, reportedly charged travellers GBP25,000 to fly on the British Airways network without the correct visa documents. The man is believed to have convinced clients, most of whom were from India, to fly to the UK on a temporary visa before he enabled them to travel elsewhere, The Telegraph reported. Other clients were reportedly UK-based asylum claimants who feared being returned to their home countries. UK police were working with Indian authorities to track down the man, who fled with his ground services partner after being arrested and bailed. Canadian authorities are said to have become suspicious after an unusual number of passengers arriving on British Airways flights to Toronto and Vancouver claimed asylum. The Sun, which said the scam had been going on for about five years, quoted a source as saying that the suspect “exploited a loophole knowing that immigration checks are no longer carried out by officials, but are left to airline staff”. “By inputting wrong data and claiming eTA (electronic travel authorisation) documents had been secured, he got people to countries they had no permission to enter in the first place.”<br/>