FOUR Somalis who charged migrants as much as £1,000 in a "cash for citizenship" exams scam were jailed yesterday.

The men had set up the Home Office-approved centre running Life In The UK tests helping people gain British passports.

They accepted tens of thousands of pounds in bribes from desperate applicants - then got staff to sit the exams instead.

But it was realised that the centre's pass rate was 84 per cent - 18 per cent higher than the national average.

Jail ... Abdi Yusuf
Jail ... Abdi Yusuf

When police raided the City Wide Learning Centre in Sheffield, South Yorks, they found seven tests running on computers with no applicants there.

One Turkish man who had failed the £34 test five times paid more than £1,000 and was handed a pass certificate.

Others paid between £200 and £400.

The centre issued more than 5,000 certificates between October 2005 and February 2007.

Brothers Mohammed Yousif, 34, and Abdi Rashid Yusuf, 37, were each jailed for 3½ years.

Another brother, Mubarak Yusuf, 28, got 15 months.

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2867597/Somalis-jailed-in-British-citizenship-test-scam.html#ixzz0gaFHnYaO
Cousin Mustafa Yassin got 2½ years.

After the investigation, 3,500 applicants who had "passed" were invited to sit a re-test - but only 849 agreed.

Judge Michael Murphy told Sheffield Crown Court: "If the people running the tests can't be trusted, who can?"

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2867597/Somalis-jailed-in-British-citizenship-test-scam.html#ixzz0gaFrRGUE