From forging visas to making passports based on fraudulent documents, Delhi’s IGI Airport has so far arrested 146 people and lodged as many as 80 cases till June this year, police data show. According to police data, the number of cheating cases lodged till June 3 last year was 19, compared to 25 cases lodged during the same period this year. Similarly, the number of forgery cases lodged till June last year was 29 as compared to 55 cases registered till June this year.
The data further show that there is an increase by 32 cases registered during the same period last year. Last year, international and domestic flights were stopped for around six months owing to the second COVID-19 wave.
The number of cheating and forgery cases has declined when compared to the same period in 2019, where 31 cheating cases were lodged and 72 forgery cases were reported.
Agents in police net
The number of arrests too has increased with 70 people arrested till June last year, in contrast to 80 people arrested till June this year. The number of agents arrested, who operate fake passport and visa rackets across the country, has increased from 33 people till June last year to 43 persons till June this year.
The number of arrests has increased from 2019 to 2022 during the six-month period, with 120 people arrested both in cases of cheating and forgery and 146 persons arrested respectively.
Senior police officers said that passengers, most of whom want to enter the country illegally for “ulterior motives” or have had their visa or passport application rejected, resort to taking the help of such agents.
“The agents and their gang members use different types of modus operandi. They arrange fake visa stamps of the destination country with forged travel history in order to dodge the suspicion of immigration authorities. In cases of passport, agents lure victims by claiming that they will arrange their travel to the destination country and arrange passports under a different name which is a case of impersonation,” an officer said.
Both IPC sections pertaining to cheating and forgery is lodged in case of visa or passport fraud in addition to invoking sections of the Passports Act in case of passport forgery.
In March, an Indian passenger planning to travel to Paris was held for allegedly holding a “forged” visa. The CISF, which detected the passenger, had said that the passenger was moving in a suspicious manner after which he was apprehended. It was revealed that the visa affixed on his passport was “counterfeit”.
“Most of the illegal network operates from Gujarat and Punjab. Apart from those who want to enter a country for illicit means, the agents also target innocent victims and dupe them on the pretext of arranging their passports,” another officer added.
The complainant in these cases is mostly the immigration authorities who first detect illegality in the passenger’s travel documents.
Efforts to curb racket
DCP (IGI) Tanu Sharma said intense efforts are made to crack down on such agents who act as masterminds of fake visa and passport rackets and several teams are trained to trace the roots of the multi-State network.
“We have managed to achieve success in trailing these rackets and arresting their gang members. They use different means to create a fake visa or a forged passport so that the immigration body is unable to trace its authenticity,” the DCP added.
