A PORTUGUESE woman is at the centre of a major Garda investigation after she was suspected of involvement in hundreds of sham marriages here.

The Irish Sun on Sunday can reveal the ‘fixer’ — one of the main sham marriage facilitators in Ireland — fled after she was targeted by investigators from the Garda National Immigration Bureau, who are currently probing 685 illegal marriages under Operation Vantage.

7 Portuguese wedding fixer raked in thousands of euro from scams before legging it over to Denmark

The fraudster is suspected of organising the bogus weddings, mainly between Portuguese women and men from Pakistan, from 2012 to 2015.

Since her decision to leave Ireland, there has been a 96 per cent reduction in applications of Portuguese women to marry here.

Although there were 210 applications in 2015, there was just four last year.

A source said: “This woman was at the heart of sham marriages in Ireland and would have made a lot of cash from facilitating illegal weddings.

7 Fake couples pose for their wedding snaps

"She left Ireland because of the increased Garda activity on the issue but she’s still under investigation.”

We can also reveal that the Portuguese woman was a close associate of Mauritian fixer Resen Modeley — who raked in €350,000 during his time in this country.

His empire was smashed when he was arrested by GNIB investigators and pleaded guilty to deception and fraud when he admitted arranging 50 bogus weddings.

Dublin Circuit Court suspended 22 months of the sentence for five years on condition that Modeley consented to being deported to Mauritius.

Along with his female partner, they used social media advertising and provided transport, accommodation and bogus documentation for the women involved.

By his own admission, Modeley arranged at least 50 bogus marriages, charging €7,000 for each. He had also taken part in a marriage of convenience himself but later separated from his “bride”.

And we can also reveal the sham marriage fixers, who previously used Ireland for their scams, have now fled to Denmark. Known as ‘Aero Island’, the location is classed as ‘Denmark’s Most Romantic Island’.

7 Gardai are investigating 685 illegal marriages

Danish police — who are working closely with gardai on the issue — believe the country was targeted by the fraudsters because of the success of Operation Vantage.

The Garda initiative, now used as a policing model by law enforcement agencies across Europe, is led by Det Sgt Dave Kennedy under Det Chief Supt Dave Dowling’s command.

Latest stats also show how 125 people have been arrested since the crackdown, with some of them since deported.

Det Chief Supt Dowling said: “The focus shifted to Denmark after the success of Operation Vantage and we’re working closely with the Danish authorities. Denmark has contacted Ireland to look for advice and assistance on how we tackled the problem here.

7 A fixer's tick list

“We also recently travelled to Europol and did a presentation on best practice and how we have dealt with sham marriages. We are constantly analysing and watching the trends and we address them. We have a great inter-agency approach to address this issue.

“Our job is to protect the integrity of the immigration system. We have protected the process here and removed the level of facilitation — it has been dismantled.”

He added: “We have had great support from the Irish Naturalisation Immigration Service, Eurojust, the General Registrar’s Office, former CAB legal adviser Frank Cassidy, Revenue and foreign embassies here in addressing this issue.

7 Bogus ID cards seized in garda raids

“There is no legislation stating that a sham marriage is illegal but during our inquiries we have established fraud and deception offences.

“Once people knew the Gardai and the registrars were looking at their marriage applications, they moved on to other countries.”

Other scams smashed by gardai include Slovakian women who were travelling here to marry men from India and Algeria.

As part of our special investigation on sham marriages, we also reveal an exclusive image of a fraudster’s ‘tick list’. The item shows how the fixer had written down their weekly shopping list — beside the women who were flying into the country on flights from Europe.

And we show how the fraudsters were using TV licences here as part of their efforts to prove their weddings were legitimate.

The huge amount of cash seized from a raid on one suspected fixer is also revealed and the bogus ID card used by the women involved in the fake weddings. Another image shows how two suspected fraudsters posed for the camera to convince authorities their wedding was genuine.

7 Mauritian fixer Resen Modeley was deported from the country Credit: Courtpix

During Vantage, which was established in 2015 to combat the soaring numbers of fake marriages, investigators established how a convicted rapist was planning to travel here to participate in a bogus wedding.

And gardai rescued a young Czech woman with learning difficulties over fears a crime gang was planning to recruit her into a sex ring, and another vulnerable Latvian woman.

Both women were later returned to social service agencies in their respective homelands.

The probes established how the fixers were charging people €10,000 for the ‘weddings’ — with many of the women being promised huge amounts but often just getting €300.

7 Cash found in garda raid on a suspected fixer

Investigators also identified how women mainly from Portugal, Latvia, Estonia and other Eastern European countries had been “disrupted and exploited” when they were brought here to marry men mainly from Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

An Algerian man who participated in a sham marriage in this country was also deported after he was suspected of raising cash for Islamic extremists.

On another occasion earlier this year, a taxi driver who was due to obtain his citizenship was arrested after gardai established he had participated in a sham marriage.

His EU treaty rights were later re- voked and he now faces deportation.

The crackdown coincided with the launch of the Civil Registration Act and marriage registrars across the country being trained by GNIB officers on interview techniques.

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During their investigations, gardai identified other forms of criminality and established how UK-based crime gangs were registering company names and businesses in Ireland.

The scam was launched to help non-EU nationals gain EU residency rights by claiming they lived and worked here.

Gardai established how one fraudster established 800 companies in Ireland over a three-year period.