Imposter UK Border Agency officers tried to take money from a family last week in what is thought to have been an attempted identity theft.
Aslan Nazeer, 32, let the men into his home on Billet Road at around 9am on Thursday when two men wearing black coats with the UKBA logo and carrying apparent identification documents said they were UKBA officers.
The men, of Asian appearance, asked about the family’s immigration status, asked for money and where the family's passports were.
Mr Nazeer became suspicious and asked to see their identification while he produced his Home Officer paperwork.
As a result of asking for ID the men ran to a waiting getaway car with the Nazeer family’s papers and sped off towards the A406 – nearly running over Mr Nazeer in the process as he chased them nearly 200 yards.
The incident left Mr Nazeer’s wife Beebee shaken and their 8-year-old daughter Ummayah was distressed and crying.
He believes the incident to be an attempted identity theft and wants to warn other people in the borough about the occurrence of these types of crimes.
He said: “They were saying to me ‘we need to know your immigration status’ and I thought if they were actually from UKBA they would know this.
“When I asked to see their ID they became agitated and started running away. I chased them down the street and they tried to run me over with their car.”
He said the men had mentioned the name of someone he knew and that they said someone had made a complaint against him.
He added: “It’s a delicate issue because there are a lot of immigrants in Walthamstow.
“I was brave enough to ask them for ID but others might not be.”
He said the men could potentially be identified as imposters by the very pale UKBA logos on their coats.
On Monday May 20 at around 12.25pm police arrested a 35-year-old man in Walthamstow Central bus garage following a call from the victim stating he had seen one of the suspects.
When officers attended the address of the suspect a 43-year-old man matching the description of the second suspect was present and was also arrested.
Both men were bailed to return on June 19.
Waltham Forest Police are urging anyone with any information to contact Detective Constable Ryaz Toofail on 0208 721 5043 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
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