Immigration officials at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru arrested seven people who visited Malaysia on a tourist visa but overstayed for years.
The arrests were made between June 26 and June 29 and in some cases, the arrested person overstayed in Malaysia for more than a decade.
Most of the accused persons hail from Tamil Nadu and were working in Malaysia. Their visas was found to have been altered illegally before they entered India, according to a report by Deccan Herald.
Officials further suspect that there are a number of people who have been lured with lucrative jobs to Malaysia but are taken on a short-stay visa. Officials say they are forced to work illegally before they are sent back with fake visas.
Investigations have begun to identify the people behind this racket. Venkatesan Jayasimha, 23, from Cuddalore and Sathesh Sethu, 28 from Methupaly, revealed that they visited Malaysia in 2017 after they were advised by a tout.
The other persons arrested are Mahimairaj Sathish Kumar, 28, from Namakkal; Josephin Selvarasu, 34, from Thanjavur; Senthilvelan Thiruvasagamoorthy, 40; and Onkar Singh, 23, from Ludhiana.
“During their stay, the accused would send money to their family through illegal means. When they are ready to return home, they have to pay anywhere between 1,000 and 8,000 Malaysian ringgits to the tout to get fake visa stamps on their passports,” police told The Hindu.
According to the police, some of the arrested persons have been working in Malaysia for as long as 14 years. Some even surrendered their passports and documents to work.