Pair who 'cynically abused' the healthcare system by selling more than 2,000 fake Covid-19 'passports' during the pandemic are jailed

Two men who 'cynically abused' the healthcare system by selling fake Covid-19 vaccination 'passports' during the pandemic have been jailed.Waqas Hanif and Touqir Nasir were linked to more than 2,000 bogus records created in 2021 that put the public at risk by allowing unvaccinated individuals to travel abroad or meet in groups.The pair advertised the documents online, charging 'clients' up to £150 to show they had received two doses of the vaccine.Hanif, 28, was a vaccination programme care co-ordinator at Kingsway Health Centre in Luton, Bedfordshire, where 2,663 suspicious entries were recorded.After he was arrested, he was found to have a safety deposit box that held £136,405 in cash.Nasir, 31, funnelled tens of thousands of pounds into the clandestine scheme using a bank account opened under the identity of Adam Parker, having changed his name by deed poll. Both men were sentenced at Luton Crown Court after they admitted offences under the Fraud Act and the Proceeds of Crime Act. Hanif also pleaded guilty to a crime under the Computer Misuse Act.Hanif was given a three-year jail term, while Nasir received a ten-month sentence, suspended for one year, and was told he will be subject to a curfew for six months. Waqas Hanif, 28, was a vaccination programme care co-ordinator at Kingsway Health Centre in Luton, Bedfordshire Touqir Nasir, 31, funnelled tens of thousands of pounds into the clandestine scheme using a bank account opened under the identity of Adam Parker, having changed his name by deed poll Investigators found a safety deposit box in Hanif's name with After he was arrested, he was found to have a safety deposit box that held £136,405 in cashSpeaking after the hearing on Thursday, Deputy Director Paul Foster, Head of the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit, said: 'These men cynically abused our healthcare system for financial gain, at a time when the country was going through the turmoil and pain of the Covid-19 pandemic.'A joint NCA and NHS England investigation was launched over concerns about unvaccinated people paying for vaccine passport records advertised on social media platforms such as Telegram.Organised criminals are suspected to have recruited or worked in partnership with non-clinical staff to produce the fraudulent records.Of the 2,663 suspicious entries identified at the Kingsway Health Centre, 1,875 were linked to five IP addresses connected to Hanif's home address in Luton.Investigators then established that he had site administrator rights to Pinnacle, the NHS system used to generate and record vaccinations.Hanif was arrested at home in January 2022 by NCA officers who found his NHS ID card, £7,000 in cash, NHS documents and an application form for Luton Safe Deposit Centre.The deposit centre's CCTV showed him accessing his storage box – the largest available - on a number of occasions. His fingerprints were found on some of the banknotes and around 250 images discovered on his mobile phone showed the personal details, including names and addresses, of around 340 'patients'. Covid-19 passports - official NHS passes used to prove double-jabbed status - were uploaded on to the NHS's mobile phone appDuring an interview, Hanif admitted creating the false vaccination records but claimed he did so under duress from local criminals who paid for the certificates.Nasir, who attended a voluntary interview in March 2023, had £56,000 deposited into the account opened with his new identity.Most consisted of deposits of between £100 and £400, which were suspected to be payments for records.Reviews of NHS systems showed that some of the names making deposits had had false vaccine records generated for them. Bank statements also showed £1,000 had been transferred to Hanif which, the investigation found, was payment for the records that Nasir had created.Mr Foster added: 'Such exploitation of our healthcare system to allow unvaccinated individuals to bypass restrictions that are in place to protect the British public is illegal. 'Working closely with the NHS England Counter Fraud Team, this investigation has helped to secure the safety of our communities by preventing organised criminals from further undermining the national pandemic response and benefitting financially from the damaging service they provided.'