Chinese student jailed for sitting exams for others

A Chinese student at Cambridge University has been jailed for 12 months for using fake passports to try to sneak Chinese nationals into the UK illegally.

Yu Junhua, a master's student in architecture, was "lured into an illegal immigration scam in return for cash", according to cambridge-news.co.uk on Monday.

The 24-year-old sat English language examinations using fake passports in a bid to get the students he was posing as a place to study in the UK, it reported.

Yu pleaded guilty in Cambridge Crown Court to a charge of possessing an identification document with improper intention, and a charge of conspiracy to facilitate the commission of a breach of UK immigration law.

Yu was caught sitting an English language examination in Norwich with a fake passport on March 10, the report said.

Police then searched Yu's room, where they found "a shoebox in his wardrobe containing six more counterfeit Chinese passports, all bearing different names, but with his photograph," according to the website.

Lawyer Michael Duffy said Yu moved to Cambridge last July. He had previously studied a degree in engineering in China.

"My client was not the main organizer or counterfeiter here at all," Duffy was quoted as saying.

"It's fair to say his entire studies have pretty much been wasted now as he now has a criminal record. He must also go back to his family in China in shame."

A spokesperson of Cambridge University said that Yu "has withdrawn his membership of the University so will not be continuing with his studies at Cambridge".

Other Chinese students have been arrested for similar reasons recently.

A Chinese student from Beijing was arrested in mid-April for using a fake passport to withdrawal cash from a bank in London. He is likely to be sentenced for between six and 12 months and then be deported, the Chinese Business Gazette European Edition reported last week.

More Chinese students from Bath, York and Warwick universities had been arrested for using fake passports to sit examinations for others in 2010 and 2011. Some of them had been jailed for six months while others were sentenced to do community work.