The Cyberabad police in Hyderabad on Wednesday said that it had busted an international human trafficking racket and cracked a fake passport and visa nexus, taking 18 people into custody.
Special teams of the Cyberabad Police said that they nabbed 15 illegal travel agents on Tuesday along with a police constable working in the Chevella police station and two people who were working with an airlines, for actively assisting the accused.
“In the month of March 2019, 10 cases of possession of fake visas of certain international passengers who were going on work visas to Kuwait were registered at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) police station, while from January, 14 cases were registered in which 71 accused were arrested and 21 accused were absconding,” the police said in a press note, stating that in view of the seriousness of these cases, they decided to crack down on illegal agents running such rackets.
Following this, a special team was formed by Cyberabad Commissioner V C Sajjanar with two DCP-level officers, which busted the racket.
“Police seized 250 passports, fake visas, 38 cell phones, fake rubber stamps, 160 police verification certificates, 6 computers, 5 laptops, 2 printers and a net cash of Rs 5,02,430 besides other incriminating material like CDs/DVDs, ATM cards, credit cards, pan cards, cheque books etc from the possession of the accused,” the press note added.
Speaking to reporters, Sajjanar said that several hundred people from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh had been illegally to Kuwait over the last few years, where they would get trapped as bonded labourers. The police commissioner said that the agents would get work visas done in Mumbai with fake certificates and then manipulate them into visit visas to ensure that the immigration process happens more swiftly and they are able to skip due process that is followed for people travelling on work visas.
“The agents will manipulate the work visa as visit visa and clear the immigration process. If any flyer is medically unfit, he/she will be taken to Sri Lanka on a transit visa and from there to Kuwait,” the commissioner was quoted as saying.