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Gardai are investigating 970 marriages among foreign nationals that they believe could be sham arrangements.

The operation comes as officers smashed an elaborate criminal network that had organised around 2,100 fake marriages between non-Irish EU citizens and mostly Asian men between 2011 and 2015.

Gardai have now been put at the spearhead of a European investigation as they try to put a stop to criminal groups using vulnerable women to sell EU residencies.

Detectives are working with the UK and EU states as they trace hundreds of 'grooms' coming mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan.

Around 500 of the EU women involved come from Portugal while many others have come from Latvia, Estonia, and Slovakia.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau has estimated that 16 Irish-based criminals made around €20 million from the fake marriages with each one costing around €17,000.

The women involved were paid around €3,000 with many of them arriving in the country for the ceremony before leaving the next day, according to The Sunday Independent.

The services also saw 'couples' coached on how to convince registrars they were genuine.

Those who sourced the women are now being sought out in Europe and are expected to face trafficking charges while the 'brides' may also face prosecutions.

Gardai first launched the crackdown in 2015 with Operation Vantage so far seeing the deportation of 77 people with more expected.

Over 100 arrests have also been made.

Last week, a student garda resigned from the Garda College after he was found to be in a sham marriage to get citizenship.

The 31-year-old man who was originally from Bangladesh began training in Templemore last year after passing through the selection process.

He had also passed a background check by his local station and by the Human Resources Management unit in Garda Headquarters.

Garda National Immigration Bureau later found that he had allegedly faked his citizenship.

A source told the Mirror: “Detectives believe that he and his friend, also a foreign national, had married two Lithuanian women a number of years ago.

“They paid upwards of €15,000 each and this marriage then allowed them to get EU citizenship.

“It is believed that the two women were also in a same sex relationship together.

They then decided to settle in Ireland with the source adding: “When they were doing the due diligence in the selection they didn’t uncover anything in regard to offences at home.

“He passed all the tests and was well liked in Templemore.”

GNIB investigators are now investigating all four people.

They have been questioned by gardai and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.