A TRAINEE GARDA faces being deported after it was discovered he was involved in a sham marriage to a gay Lithuanian woman in order to become resident here.
The 31-year-old is originally from Bangladesh and had been a student at the Garda College in Templemore, Co Tipperary since last year.
He has now resigned after an investigation by the force's National Immigration Bureau revealed that he and a friend paid more than €15,000 to two Lithuanian women in order to marry them
He also faces a potential criminal prosecution for conducting the sham marriage and a file is being prepared for the DPP.
The bogus marriage was discovered as part of a Garda crackdown codenamed Operation Vantage, which was set up in August 2015.
The operation has uncovered massive profits and the modus operandi of Bangladeshi and other gangs from the Indian sub-continent who are involved in the scam.
The two women are in a relationship with each other and were so at the time the "marriage" took place.
The sham marriage enabled the trainee garda and his friend to secure EU residency rights and they settled in Ireland.
He passed a number of Garda interviews and exams before being admitted to Templemore last year where he was being trained to be a garda until a number of weeks ago.
Gardaí have now begun a criminal investigation and all four parties to the marriages have been interviewed under caution.
A spokesperson for An Garda Síochána said they do not comment on ongoing investigations.
