Moroccan's 'Breathtaking' £388k Benefit Scam Asylum Seeker's £388k Benefit Scam

A Moroccan asylum seeker has been jailed after falsely claiming almost £400,000 in incapacity benefit - a crime described by prosecution lawyers as "breathtaking fraud on a grand scale".
Mohamed Bouzalim and his two brothers and sister, who acted as his carers, cost the taxpayer £388,000 in total over nearly a decade.
Isleworth Crown Court heard that Bouzalim arrived in the UK in 2001 - claiming he was from Afghanistan, wanted to claim asylum and was called Mohamed Amir Hussini.
He was not granted asylum, but was given exceptional leave to remain in the UK, giving him full access to the UK benefit system.
He lived a double life for the next decade, fooling council disability assessors and charities into thinking he was paralysed from the neck down.
In fact, he attended two universities - one on a fifth floor with no disabled access - passed a driving test and attended a gym, all under his real name.
Following his arrest, a video of him dancing at a wedding was also found.
As Amir Hussini, he was given special housing in Camden, London, and even moved into a flat designed specially for him.
A specially-adapted bed, wheelchair and other equipment were issued to him.
Assessments to check up on him were always done on an appointment basis, the council assessor arriving at his flat on one occasion to find him apparently incapacitated in his wheelchair.
However, undercover surveillance officers caught him leaving his flat on foot just minutes after one such appointment.
Over the years, his Moroccan siblings came to live in the UK and were knowingly brought into the conspiracy to act as his carers - entitling them to also receive benefits.
Then in 2008, he became a UK citizen under his Afghan name.
At court, he appeared alongside his sister Zahra and his brothers Rashid and Abdullah.
Bouzalim has been jailed for six years and 11 months.
His siblings have all been sentenced to 12-month suspended sentences and handed unpaid work orders of varying lengths.
He still claims to be disabled and appeared at court on crutches.
Robert Coxhead, senior investigating officer from the UK Border Agency Criminal and Financial Investigation team, said: "Mohamed Bouzalim was a top class fraudster and con artist. His whole life was a lie.
"Over a period of years he successfully duped a number of people and organisations into believing his elaborate lies, and as a result he managed to defraud taxpayers of hundreds of thousands of pounds.
"Members of his family were complicit in that fraud.
"It was only when Bouzalim was confronted by the overwhelming weight of evidence collected by my team that he admitted his crimes.