The migrant spy camera scam run from a BMW

SCOTLAND Yard today warned that hi-tech gangs are raking in hundreds of thousands of pounds a year by cheating in the new British immigration tests.

The fraudsters are using sophisticated spy technology to help migrants pass the "Life in the UK" exams which are intended to check whether they can speak the language.

Applicants, who do not speak or read English, are equipped with tiny buttonhole cameras and hidden earpieces so they can be passed the correct answers.

The racket was highlighted by a court case in which a couple were jailed after being caught outside Wimbledon library in a BMW packed with electronic transmitters, laptops and surveillance gadgets. They were transmitting answers to a Chinese national inside the building who was sitting the multiple choice "Britishness" test even though he could not understand English.

Steven Lee and his girlfriend Rong Yang, both British nationals of Chinese descent, were jailed for eight months at Kingston crown court for three counts of facilitating a breach of immigration law. Two Chinese men who took the test, Ka Hung Pang, 52, of Horsham, and En Zhuang, 38, of Deptford High Street, were sentenced to 180 hours community work for deception.

The court heard this week how Lee, 36, and Yang, 28, were sitting in a BMW 3 series outside the library in March this year.

A member of the public called police when they saw wires running from under the bonnet to the interior. When officers arrived and searched the vehicle they found laptops, radio transmitters and other surveillance equipment.

At first police thought the couple were running a cash machine fraud, skimming the cards of unsuspecting users. The couple claimed they were using the equipment to watch Chinese television channels. Pang, who had already sat the test, was also in the car. But only when Zhuang returned to the car did the immigration fraud become clear. The two men would direct the tiny camera at the computer screen and the couple in the car would then relay the correct answers to them via a hidden earpiece. When Zhuang was searched he was found to have £1,000 in cash, believed to be the payment for Lee and Yang.

Sergeant Dominic Washington, of Merton police, said the tricksters made thousands of pounds. He said: "We believe we have uncovered an established criminal enterprise that may be in operation in other parts of the country."

Detectives from the Yard's Operation Swale team, which works with the Border and Immigration Agency to tackle immigration crime, are now examining the scam.

Lee and Yang lived in a £600,000 house in Redhill and police believe they helped dozens of immigrants pass the tests.

The "Life in the UK" immigration tests were introduced in April last year and are intended to prove that migrants are suitable to be citizens.

The multiple-choice exam is run on computers with touch screen answers. The 24-question quiz takes 45 minutes and has a 75 per cent pass mark.

Questions range from "Where are Geordie, Cockney and Scouse accents spoken?" to "What are the main Christian festivals?"