A criminal gang member who falsely claimed he was the father of eight Albanian children to get them UK citizenship has been jailed.
Gerald Cera, 28, was sentenced to six years in prison after being found guilty of conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration in August earlier this year, a court heard.
Between September 2022 and August 2024 he was falsely named as the father in passport applications for eight infants.
Cera, originally from Albania, provided staged photographs of him holding the babies to support the applications.
He also offered personal documents, including his own UK passport and naturalisation certificate, a court was told.
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Payments for the applications were associated with bank cards linked to a 'G Cera' and contact email addresses provided were often also in his name.
At his sentencing today, St Albans Crown Court heard the scam involved an increasingly 'high degree of planning and sophistication' over time.
Alongside his prison sentence, Cera has been deprived of his UK citizenship by the Home Office.
Alex Norris MP, Minister for Border Security and Asylum welcomed the conviction saying sentences like Cera's 'show that those who attempt to exploit our borders will be brought to justice'.
All the children for whom Cera supported citizenship applications have also had their passports revoked.
A jury previously found him guilty after they were convinced he was aware the applications were made with him named as the father - even though he was not the father to any of the infants and there was not any DNA evidence.
An investigation into Cera's arrest uncovered he was part of a conspiracy to obtain UK passports for babies who had no right to get one.
It was also found that the 28-year-old was friends with Petrit Musa, who previously pleaded guilty to fraudulently claiming to father 13 children born to Albanian mothers on UK passport applications earlier this month.
Cera was also convicted of failing to comply with a notice after he refused to provide police with his phone and laptop passcodes following his arrest at Luton Airport on 16 February 2025.
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Roma Karampatsi, Senior Crown Prosecutor for CPS Thames and Chiltern said: 'Throughout the investigation and trial process, Cera's account has been riddled with inconsistencies.
'By fraudulently seeking UK citizenship for those with no right to it, Cera undermined our immigration system and those who seek to come by legal and legitimate means.
'Working closely with police and Home Office, we exposed Cera's crimes and made sure he was held accountable for them.
'I hope today's outcome demonstrates that the Crown Prosecution Service is committed to robustly prosecuting those who exploit our immigration system.'
Alex Norris MP, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, said: 'We will not stand by while criminal gangs abuse our immigration system by exploiting children to make quick cash.
'These sentences show that those who attempt to exploit our borders will be brought to justice, with our Immigration Enforcement teams working day and night, doing whatever it takes, to protect our communities from harm.
'Our Plan for Change will allow officers to go even further, with our Borders Bill granting counter-terror style powers to law enforcement to enforce earlier arrests of immigration offenders.'
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