Man who posed as Nigerian prince jailed for 7 years in the UK over immigration scam | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

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Saturday 9 August 2014

Man who posed as Nigerian prince jailed for 7 years in the UK over immigration scam

A conman who posed as a Nigerian prince in high society while masterminding massive immigration scam has been jailed for 7 years in the UK. The man who called himself His Royal Highness Prince Yilkyes Bala Finok Tonglele PhD State Crown Prince’ was found guilty of using false and stolen IDs to help over 100 people to get into the UK. Find the full reports from UK Daily Mail UK below...
Posing as a member of the Nigerian Royal family, he mingled with diplomats, captains of industry and senior police officers.
Dr Yilkyes Bala was chauffeur-driven in a black Bentley and hosted sumptuous dinners at the Dorchester to mix with society’s elite. But the supposedly flourishing businessman was in fact a criminal mastermind responsible for an ambitious immigration racket.
Investigators believe he helped more than 100 of his countrymen, including most of his extended family, to enter the UK illegally under false and stolen identities.

At the centre of the scam was a corrupt Home Office worker who sold him genuine, but improperly issued, refugee passports for £1,500 each.

Bala then used his network of security companies to give the illegal immigrants references and jobs.
They could then ‘hit the jackpot’ and obtain a National Insurance number, giving them full citizen’s rights and access to State benefits.

But the racket, which continued for up to 16 years, unravelled when the Home Office employee was caught out.

This week Bala, 55, was starting a seven year jail sentence from August 1st, after a jury convicted him of conspiring to breach immigration laws.

A judge at Canterbury Crown Court said the charming fraudster was 'at the hub' of a 'significant conspiracy' to beat UK border security.

The conviction is an embarrassment for those who mixed with Bala, including the 
Nigerian Ambassador and senior officers at City of London Police.
The charming conman referred to himself as ‘His Royal Highness Prince Yilkyes Bala Finok Tonglele PhD State Crown Prince’.
He even carried an identity card claiming to be ‘prince of princes’ in the Nigerian Plateau State Council of Chiefs.

Investigators found he did not inherit the honour, but he claimed it was bestowed on him later in life, and they have been unable to disprove this.
Accomplices: Bala's second wife Giwo Tonglele, 46, left, was jailed for five years and Casmir Ekwuhga, 42, right, was jailed for four years for taking part in the conspiracy

Bala travelled to Britain in the early 1980s before studying administration at Greenwich School of Management as part of a philosophy doctorate.
He already claimed to have a degree from the now-defunct Clayton University, in Missouri, U.S., long suspected as a ‘buy-a-degree’ college.

He went on to set up a network of companies and claimed that at one stage they employed 900 people across Europe, Asia and Africa.
The core business was supplying security guards to the construction industry, including one firm based in Knightsbridge, Central London.

His companies, which included Golden Shield and Mayfair and Knightsbridge Guarding, also provided alarm monitoring, VIP bodyguards and uniformed guards for offices.
Within two decades Bala, a father of six, was living in a £1.3million home in leafy Beckenham, South East London.

He joined the Croydon branch of the Masons and sent his daughters to fee-paying Blackheath High School.
But a huge investigation, which Bala claimed cost up to £10 million, unravelled his empire and exposed him as a ruthless conman.
Officials discovered a corrupt Home Office employee based in Croydon had improperly obtained more than 200 refugee passports.
In genuine cases they are used as travel documents for those claiming asylum in Britain, often fleeing religious or political persecution.

But the official was illicitly applying for them in the name of non-existent relatives of genuine refugees.
At least 91 documents were posted to addresses linked to Bala, who ran the Armour Group chain of companies with offices across the capital.
They were then used as the foundation for applications to remain in the UK as he and his accomplices ran rings around immigration officials.
Those linked to Bala used every trick in the book to beat border controls, from urgent medical visas to travelling as domestic servants.
Some were so shameless that they changed their names by deed poll back to their original identities within weeks of adopting the persona of a non-existent refugee.
Among those given false identities so they could remain in Britain were Bala’s second wife and his brother.

After his arrest, Bala boasted to officials that he was allowed up to seven wives, ‘and a few more on the side’.
Investigators found his home stuffed with paperwork linked to his businesses, with documents in his garage filling two vans alone.
Because of the complex web of his businesses it took the Home Office two years to prepare the case against him.
The illegal immigrants caused chaos in Government systems once they had obtained their new identities.

One man was uncovered by his fingerprints when he was caught drink driving on two occasions, first under his real name and then in a false one.
In some cases, illegal immigrants had already failed to gain citizenship under one name so simply adopted a new identity to try again.
Official company minutes for Bala’s security companies recorded the same people attending meetings under different names.

Bala's second wife Giwo Tonglele, 46, was also convicted of conspiracy to facilitate illegal entry of persons into the UK and was jailed for five years.
Their former employee Casmir Ekwuhga, 42, was jailed for four years for taking part in the conspiracy, holding a refugee passport illegally and using it to obtain a driving licence fraudulently.
Jailing them, Judge Heather Norton said the scam was well organised.
She said: 'These documents were created to order. Each one of you was involved in deceiving the immigration authorities. You were at the hub of the whole enterprise.
'The motive was simple.It was to provide identities for employees, relatives and friends. It was a significant conspiracy.'

More than 100 illegal immigrants linked to the scam have been arrested, but only a small number are believed to have been convicted and deported.
David Fairclough, of the Home Office, said Bala was brought to justice after a 'long, complex and painstaking investigation' and said the case should serve as a warning to others.

60 comments:

Anonymous said...

The name doesn't even sound nigerian sef...... Btw linda can misquotes transfer Ebola. Please help us find out

Ceeflo said...

Crime doesn't pay! Patience will always be a virtue! Lol sure he was inspired by Eddie Murphy's "coming to America"

Bishop Dammy said...

7 good years!! Waoo. Psalm 34:16. BishopDammy#

Unknown said...

Is not nigerian prince. Irebisibrown@yahoo.com.sg

NaNcY DreW said...

I often 1da y Nigerians go in2 scamin business when is really a hard tin 2 do, y not use d smartness, wisdom and intelligence 4 sumtin legit y risk all dat knowledge God has given u 4 sumtin illegal.

jbankzE said...

Em don try wela,anoda dsgrace 2 naija....

~@iamJbankz S.A to President Jonathan 2015~

Anonymous said...

Na wa oh! Nigeria Royal Familiy kee? How gullible can these oyinbos be?

Anonymous said...

Nigerians we havfraudlent genes in us..
Nawa oo.
one day,
U.K will arrest all Nigerian passport holders 4 fraudulent acts..
99 days 4 the thief, one day 4 the owner

Anonymous said...

Nigerians we hav fraudlent genes in us..
Nawa oo.
one day,
U.K will arrest all Nigerian passport holders 4 fraudulent acts..
99 days 4 the thief, one day 4 the owner

Olameedey said...

I cnt jez figure out wat goes on in d mind of Nigerians abroad who tend to tarnish d image of this great country. Only God knows. Smh

chizzysignature said...

He is a confimed con man!

APPLE said...

His royal highness!!!!! LMAO.

Unknown said...

he shud b recruited in d FBI!! 16 whole years,over 1oo pple!!! even mingled wit d elites!

Anonymous said...

Chai!!! y is nigerians always in d news for negative things...

Unknown said...

Everyday for the thief one day for the owner of the house.... Ihe Onye metara ya buru, exact song African magic is singing ryt now.

queenreigneth@gmail.com

ary said...

Too bad! Do we have royal families in this country sef?!

Anonymous said...

Do Nigerians in the UK accomplish anything positive? The UK press has a nose for stories of lazy men with delusions of grandeur looking for fast money.

Plateaupedia said...

God! i met this man in Jos some years back and his carriage was something else! That of a King Hmmmmm

Plateaupedia said...

God! i met this man in Jos some years back and his carriage was something else! That of a King Hmmmmm

Anonymous said...

Yes, when u mis-quote, ebola go come find u. Dunno if you was talking about mosquitoes though.

Anonymous said...

na waaa oh!

Anonymous said...

The Daily Mail loves these moral panic stories about bad Nigerians. Not all Nigerians in the UK are crooks.

Kimmy*****

purity C said...

Idiegwo

purity C said...

Odiegwo o, Nigerian prince, Uk prince hahahaha

Anonymous said...

Abeg make them leave d man joor.

Anonymous said...

The Nigerian High Commission ought to be sacked for not spotting a fake prince!

Anonymous said...

Its a shame we believe everything the media wants us to. If we could only dig deeper.

Chi chi said...

Oh Lord! Here we go again daily mail. Making Nigeria their main target. Every week another news about Nigerians.

Biko no Nigerian dey do good for UK? They will never see better to report, only bad news. Na wa oh

Linda, pls don't always run to their site and lift all these them bad bad gist. Everyone know daily mail is racist and bias.

ETY said...

THE NAME IS NOT EVEN NIGERIAN. NIGERIAN PRINCE INDEED.

Anonymous said...

I live here in London and NO single migrant from across the globe read or by DAILY HATE like they call the paper. Daily mail is anti foreigners. They exergerate all thing foreign and let their mostly old typical white reader believe migrants are bad for UK.
Moron!

Anonymous said...

Some one has set this man up, trust me

Anonymous said...

Is this man a Nigerian? What kind of fake names are these? They do not sound Nigerian. Anyway, #Nigeria we hail thee....#

Anonymous said...

Exactly. Anyone with a brain can tell there is no case here. There was no mention of any crimes he has committed. Just allusions and insinuations. Sounds like a successful African in England which is a crime in this part of the world.

Anonymous said...

Yes. Linda is not patriotic joor

Anonymous said...

And Linda likes to quote them. Non whites do not buy this trash because we all know they a a BP establishment.

Unknown said...

Haahaaahaaa!!! Lord have mercy @Anon 10:30pm, you no go kill me with this your response!!

Anonymous said...

Bishop Dammy you want to be noticed by all means.

roses said...

Oh Bala! I worked foe a Armour as a student and though his company was the 1st port of call for immigrants.. He is a very rude and pompous short man, but bless his first wife Rosemary very kind. I worked in his control room at some point and true he is guilty of all these.

Anonymous said...

Lolololololol!! Good one!

DownUnder said...

Why have they omitted the name of the official that sold him the passports? They are still protecting their own but will speedily publish Nigerian name and photo.

Anonymous said...

E tire me o!!!! Abeg ask. Do we have known, recognized royal families like that??? We don't. Even the so called Nigerian Ambassador, they shd check him. I'm sure he was in on d scam cos we all know our people abroad, "everyday I'm hustlin' everyday I'm hustlin' everyday they're hustling'" hahahahha

Anonymous said...

My thots exactly. Maybe he too was in on the scam....it's a possibility

Unknown said...

double wahala





BORN TO SHINE!!!!

Unknown said...

Apostle know it all: 'if you was' your own grammar no dey dictionary.

Unknown said...

Abegi this man is not from nigeria
Face of lib

Okoro said...

Oyinbo are still this dull?
16yrs.. Chai

Anonymous said...

Exactly!

Anonymous said...

Exactly

Anonymous said...

What a disgrace... I doubt if he is from Nigeria

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Anonymous said...

How are these names naija names? Anyway I don't blame them for using naija names when our people said either live way above their means and we are also the 3rd biggest criminals in that UK after the pakis and jamos

Anonymous said...

He is a nigerian from plateau state, mangu LGA,he is one of the riches if not the riches in Bompe his village....

Anonymous said...

D page is 2much to read, be dat as it may, his mis-deed has to be corrected. LIB Princess!

Anonymous said...

how gullible are these Caucasians? don't they have internet to confirm that Nigeria has no royal family

Anonymous said...

They investigated 'HRH' for 2 years
Tafida a calculated technocrat must have been one of the high profile individuals that helped crack him down. He obviously knows like you and I that 'HRH' is no blue blood and that his acclaimed title doesn't exist. Many syndicates are unhappy with Tafida because he is clamping down on these illegal, get quick rich embassy rackets.

Anonymous said...

Reading some of the comments I weep for Nigeria. Instead of accepting a lot of our people do horrible things and think of how we can improve our culture that worships money at all costs, which in turn encourages people to do anything for money, people and turning this into a conspiracy theory. As for the person who said "Anyone with a brain can tell there is no case here", I think he meant to say with "NO BRAIN CELL". I supposed if the story was that they caught a Nigerian burglar red handed, you guys would be saying it is because he is Nigerian they caught him? Why won't people continue to take the risk and commit these crimes when they know after serving their time, all they need to say is that they were framed because they were Nigerian and successful. Keep passing on these values to your kids and there is absolutely no hope for us.

Anonymous said...

omg... i actually work for his security company while in UK 7 years ago.

Anonymous said...

YOU READ THIS NEWS AS REPORTED BY THE UK MEDIA AND BELIEVE EVERY WORD ? THEN YOU DON'T KNOW A THING ABOUT UK REPORTING -

YES THIS MAN MAY BE GUILT AND MAY BE A CONN MAN, BUT THE UK MEDIA WILL ALWAYS BLOW THINGS OUT OF PROPORTION AND ALWAYS ADD AN IMMIGRATION TWIST TO EVERY NEWS AND TRUST THEM, ANYTHING THEY CAN REPORT TO FURTHER DAMAGE NIGERIAN IMAGE THEY WILL GLADLY DO SAME

HOW ON EARTH CAN ONE CONNMAN AND A CROOKED UKBA STAFF, ILLEGALLY BRING IN 100 PEOPLE INTO THE UK, ??? IF YOU KNOW THE WAY THE VISA PROCESS AND IMMIGRATION SYSTEM WORKS IN THE UK, YOU WILL KNOW IT WILL TAKE HELL FREEZING OVER TO ILLEGALLY GET ONE PERSON INTO THE UK, TALK LESS OF 100 PERSON AND ACCORDING TO THIS REPORT THIS WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY JUST TWO PEOPLE.? LIE LIE REPORTING--- THEY DON'T WANT TO TELL YOU THAT THEY HAVE LOADS N LOADS OF OTHER GREEDY OYIBO PEOPLE INVOLVED IN THIS SCAM..

AND WHATS MORE WHY DIDN'T THEY MENTION THE NAME OF THE SO CALLED UKBA STAFF WORKING WITH THIS CONNMAN, AND ALSO SHOW HIS PICTURE LIKE THEY DID FOR OTHERS ...THEY WONT DO THAT BECAUSE THEY WANT TO ENSURE THE FOCUS IS ON THIS SO CALLED NIGERIAN PRINCE CONN MAN AND THEY KEEP OVEREMPHASIZING THE FACT HE IS NIGERIA - HOWEVER IF HE HAS REALLY LIVED FOR 16 YEARS IN THE UK I BELIEVE LEGALLY THAN HE IS A NATURALIZED BRITISH PERSON INIT ? DAMM!! BRITISH -

NOTE PLEASE THIS COMMENT IS NOT MAKING AN EXCUSE FOR THOSE SHAMELESS NIGERIAN WHO DO ALL SORTS JUST TO DESTROY THE NIGERIAN IMAGE - I PRAY YOUR EVIL ALWAYS CATCH UP WITH ALL OF YOU, SO THAT HONEST HARD WORKING NIGERIANS WONT HAVE TO KEEP FACING ALL FORMS OF EMBARRASSMENT BECAUSE OF THESE UNREASONABLE MEN AND WOMEN

Anonymous said...

And you write as though you have read the case profile cover to cover yourself. Or as if you new the man. You think you know everything after reading a story from the trash of a paper daily mail. I feel sorry for your children if you lead them to believe that everything they read is fact. The media, yes 'the news' is created not reported...

Anonymous said...

Having read the news report about the said person Dr Y F Bala on the Daily Mail website i would like to say that i am disgusted by the way nigerians at home gulp up every and anything british or american....Firstly to set the record straight Dr Yilkyes Bala started his business just after completing his Doctorate degree and unlike many other immigrants in the diaspora. That man you are all calling names has been responsible for employing approximately 31,000 persons in the U.k between 1989-till date.
he Dr Bala has paid over 20,000,000 and thats 20 million Pounds sterling in taxes to the uk government either in form of PAYE and coporation tax.
the company alleged to be a cover for immigration scams has over the years turned over 85 million (pounds) and yet again we crucify him...if we look at the alleged crime with which evidence was not subtantiated in court you will then ask yourself a simple question....Why i risk a lifes work for 100,000 pounds?

it does not add up...

i have documents to back these noise makeing british government bent on making a mockery of enterprising people of colour in the U.K.

Matthew.

Unknown said...

Having read the news report about the said person Dr Y F Bala on the Daily Mail website i would like to say that i am disgusted by the way nigerians at home gulp up every and anything british or american....Firstly to set the record straight Dr Yilkyes Bala started his business just after completing his Doctorate degree and unlike many other immigrants in the diaspora. That man you are all calling names has been responsible for employing approximately 31,000 persons in the U.k between 1989-till date.
he Dr Bala has paid over 20,000,000 and thats 20 million Pounds sterling in taxes to the uk government either in form of PAYE and coporation tax.
the company alleged to be a cover for immigration scams has over the years turned over 85 million (pounds) and yet again we crucify him...if we look at the alleged crime with which evidence was not subtantiated in court you will then ask yourself a simple question....Why i risk a lifes work for 100,000 pounds?

it does not add up...

i have documents to back these noise makeing british government bent on making a mockery of enterprising people of colour in the U.K.

Matthew.

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