IMMIGRATION officers found a man hiding in a roof space buried by suitcases during a raid on a Burnley couple’s house, a court heard.

Husband and wife Shohidul and Anwara Islam, of Leamington Avenue, both denied knowing that Bangladeshi man Shafik Miah was in their house.

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A Home Office investigation also uncovered a bag of 270 documents allegedly relating to fake passports and National Insurance (NI) cards.

The couple denied one count of assisting unlawful immigration and 11 counts of possessing an identity document with improper intention at Burnley Crown Court.

Another two defendants, Abdul Shahid, and his nephew, Mohammed Amin Uddin, both of Bar Street, Burnley, are also accused of the latter 11 charges.

During the raid, on April 1 last year, Shohidul Islam said Shafik Miah had gone back to Bangladesh, while Anwara Islam denied seeing him for at least a month, although she admitted he stayed at their home ‘on and off’.

Giving evidence, immigration officer Neil Holt told prosecutor Brian McKenna how he discovered Mr Miah – whose six-month British visa expired in October 2011 – after crawling through a floor shaft to a locked bedroom.

Mr Holt said: “I spoke to Anwara Islam and she said: ‘I’m sorry. Shafik can’t go back to Bangladesh, he is in danger.

“I asked why she hadn’t contacted the Home Office and who was it that helped Shafik Miah. She made no comment.”

Mr Holt said Anwara Islam had stalled for two minutes while officers were at the door and that he did not believe Mr Miah could have hidden under the suitcases without assistance.

Shahid, a frequent visa sponsor who helped run Sunar Gaw restaurant in Bolton, was arrested two months after the raid, followed by Uddin in July 2014, once officers inspected nine folders found in the Islam household.

Two of the Bangladeshi passports recovered had seen the photographs substituted, contained unlawfully altered details and had false UK entry statistics.

On day two of the crown court trial, members of the jury were told that Uddin, 42, had already pleaded guilty to two counts – possession of a false National Insurance card and a false Bangladeshi passport in his own name.

Explaining the delay in answering the door, David Temkin, defending Anwara Islam, said: “Anwara Islam was changing from her night clothes to her day clothes.”