According to the Globe and Mail, a British Airways employee at London's Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom allegedly helped people immigrate to Canada by circumventing immigration laws in exchange for money, thereby netting him millions of dollars.
British authorities are investigating the alleged fraud that allowed people to seek asylum in Canada, as first reported by the Times of London.
The British airline employee is said to have charged almost $43,000 to any passenger who wanted to travel without the required visa by falsely stating that he had the required documents.
According to British media, the scam was intended to have benefited Indian citizens traveling to the UK on temporary visitor visas, as well as British asylum seekers facing deportation.
It was Canadian authorities who became concerned about the situation after noticing that many passengers were arriving without visas and seeking asylum, the Times of London reported. The plan is said to have worked for several years and netted the fraudster $5 million.
The main suspect is said to have fled to India after his arrest in London on January 6th.
British authorities and British Airways declined to comment further on the investigation. However, the airline confirmed that the supervisor in question was no longer employed by them, the media said.