A mother was arrested on suspicion of being an illegal immigrant after police stopped her car to carry out routine checks.
Officers taking part in a day-long car insurance clampdown pulled over the BMW at Thornton Heath Roundabout just after 12pm today.
Initially they arrested 34-year-old Addiscombe man, thought to be the woman's partner, on suspicion of driving while disqualified.
But the handcuffed man insisted a fraudster posing as him had been disqualified after being convicted of dangerous driving.
He was released after checks, including roadside fingerprint tests, proved he was telling the truth.
But officers then arrested the woman, who was travelling with the 34-year-old and their young son, after conducting immigration checks.
She was taken to a Croydon police station for questioning.
Police search the car
The arrests took place amid Operation Cubo, which saw teams of officers take to the streets across London to catch out drivers with no insurance.
Around 35 officers took up roadside positions across Croydon and had seized seven cars by lunchtime.
Inspector Phil Mockett said snaring driving offenders often led to catching out criminals who had committed other crimes.
He said: "The important thing is we are denying criminals the use of the road, because a lot of the people who don't get insurance are our criminals."
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