Three ‘fake Muslim’ women have been arrested by police in Swindon this afternoon.
Half a dozen police vehicles – including an unmarked police car – descended on College Street, at the back of Tesco Metro, at around 2.45pm today, Wednesday 14 June.
Three women, who are understood to be Romanian posing as Muslim refugees to beg for money, were stopped by inSwindon Street Team staff and the police were called.
Three police officers spent around half an hour talking to the women via a mobile phone – thought to be a translator – until a female police officer arrived to search them.
All three woman were searched; two were locked in a police van’s cage and the other one was were put in the back of other police cars accompanied by an officer.
During the search, each woman voluntarily removed their headscarves.
One witness, talking to our reporter at the scene, said: “I’ve seen these woman around, mostly begging outside our mosque. They aren’t Muslims and give us all a bad name”.
They were arrested on suspicion of begging following an immigration check and are now in police custody at Gablecross Police Station.
