340 passports of Africans found in electronics shop

Shop-owner suspected of taking them as collateral for lending money to the owners

Central Crime Branch (CCB) sleuths raided an electronics shop on HRBR Road in Banaswadi and found hundreds of passports, residential permits, electronic goods and automobiles belonging to people from African countries.

The police suspect the shop-owner Muniraju (45) of taking these items as collateral for lending money to the owners.

He was arrested and produced before a magistrate who remanded him in judicial custody.

CCB officials stumbled upon the business operations of Muniraju. During a raid, they found 341 passports, 83 residential permits, 93 laptops, 155 mobile phones, four two-wheelers and seven four-wheelers.

According to officials, Muniraju has been in business for the past four years offering loans to African students at high rates of interest.

The passports belong to students from Namibia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, South Sudan, Tanzania, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

Around 50% of the passports belong to citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said the police, who are investigating whether the passports were tampered with or used to create fake identities.