SIX people face deportation from the UK following a police swoop on an area known as Scotland's wedding capital in a major investigation into bogus marriages.
UK Borders Agency staff arrested brides and grooms from Pakistan, India and Africa as they prepared to take their vows at registry offices in Gretna, Langholm and Moffat. All had overstayed their visas and had travelled from London to Scotland to get married on October 9 and 10.
Police detained the groups while acting on intelligence received that the weddings were false and moves are currently under way to deport them.
At Gretna, two Pakistani men, a 21-year-old who was due to be married to a Lithuanian woman and another aged 33 who was acting as a witness to the marriage were both arrested.
In the town, a favourite with couples planning to tie the knot, a 22-year-old Pakistani man was arrested as he about to marry a Polish woman.
In Langholm, a 23-year-old Pakistani man was arrested as he attempted to marry a Polish woman.
In the operation at Moffat, a 32-year-old Nigerian woman was arrested as she attempted to marry a Lithuanian man. A 23-year-old Indian man who was acting as a witness to this was also arrested.
A UK Border Agency spokesman said: "Anyone in the UK illegally and seeking to evade our immigration laws should take heed of this latest operation, and expect to be found by us and removed from the UK."
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