Five Pakistanis living here have been accused of paying American women to marry them. If convicted, the men face deportation, the Kansas City Channel reported on Thursday.
US Attorney Bradley Schlozman said he believed that all five men were involved in sham marriages to stay in the United States. A 52-year-old woman from Independence, Robyn Adele Raja, has also been charged in the case. Schlozman said that Raja is a US citizen and was paid to marry one of the five Pakistani men. The five men charged in the 12-count indictment are Qammaruz Zaman Raja, 47, Riaz Ahmed, 44, and Muhammad Safique, 42, from Independence and Waseem Qammar, 26, and Nadeem Qammar from Sugar Creek. All six were charged with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.
A friend of Ahmed, David Ray, said that he was surprised by the charges. “I didn’t know he was married. I never saw him with a woman and never heard him talk about one,” Ray said. Ray lives in Ahmed’s old apartment. |