Mumbai: Acting on a tip-off about a gang of human traffickers operating in the city, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch has busted an international racket in which teenagers from India were being sent to Europe under false identities using passports and visas obtained with forged documents. The police have arrested three people and taken four teenagers into custody, and more arrests are expected.
According to crime branch officers, the Anti-Robbery Dacoity Cell received a tip-off that the accused would be attempting to take some minors abroad on either Wednesday or Thursday. Accordingly, ARDC personnel were stationed at the international airport’s T2 terminal on both days.
Additional Commissioner of Police (Crime) K.M.M. Prasanna said, “On Thursday morning, our officers saw two men and a woman with four young boys at the airport and stopped them on suspicion. One of the men identified himself as the boys’ father, while the woman claimed to be their mother. They said their surname was Pawar. However, when our personnel spoke to the boys in Marathi, they were unable to answer, so they were detained for further inquiries.”
Punjab-Europe via Mumbai
During questioning, the suspects confessed that they were illegally taking the four teenaged boys to Europe. On being grilled further, the trio, identified as Arif Farouki, 38, Rajesh Pawar, 47, and Fatima Ahmed, 48, disclosed the racket’s modus operandi.
Mr. Prasanna said as per the version given by the suspects, an agent based in Punjab would put the accused in touch with youngsters who wanted to go to Europe. The racketeers charged each ₹10 lakh and would bring them to Mumbai. The youth would be put up in a small room in Kurla while the accused made forged documents under false names for them, and obtained passports and visas using these documents. Once the visas were ready, the accused would take them to Europe, but would always use connecting flights to avoid detection. On Thursday, the accused were going to take the boys to Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and then on to Paris from there.
On reaching Europe, they would leave the boys in the care of their contacts there, or instruct them to go to shelter homes run by Indians for orphans and uncared-for minors. They were instructed to stay there till they turned 18, after which they could apply for citizenship.
“The accused would make sure they took away the boys’ passports and visas after dropping them off and destroy them. We are still verifying if the parents of these youngsters sent them willingly or if they were duped,” Mr. Prasanna added.
The police said Farouki, who is the main accused in the case, runs a still photography studio in Kurla, while Rajesh Pawar is an assistant cameraman in the film industry. Fatima is a hair stylist who claims to have worked with prominent Bollywood directors. Pawar and Fatima were the ‘couriers’ who would take the youngsters to Europe, while Farouki was the mastermind.
The accused confessed to have sent at least 15 to 20 teenagers abroad in this manner. The police are now on the lookout for the Punjab-based agent and are investigating if this racket is active in other cities.
