4 arrested for illegally sending Indians to US via Mexico border
New Delhi: Four persons, including the mastermind of an international racket, have been busted by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police in connection with illegally sending persons to foreign shores using fake passports, Delhi Police said on Sunday. The syndicate was running under the garb of the tour and travel business, they said. Police have seized 80 passports of various countries along with a large number of forged and incriminating documents, stamps, and laptops from their possession.
The arrested accused have been identified as Girish Bhandari (48), Himanshu Mehta, (23) Gagan Sharma, (22), and Ramesh Arya (38), all are residents of Delhi.
Ravindra Singh Yadav, Special Commissioner of Police Crime said a team led by inspector Pawan Kumar and Rakesh Kumar under the close supervision of ACP Naresh Kumar conducted a raid at Prem Nagar, Tilak Nagar, Delhi, and four persons were arrested with a large number of passports incriminating documents, currency, forged bank statements, letters pads of different firms and companies, etc. They have been booked under section 419/120B/420/465 /467/468/471/472/34 IPC & 12 Passport Act at Crime Branch, Delhi.
“This crime syndicate is being operated from Delhi as all the embassies are here. The gang has sub-agents spread all over the NCR. These sub-agents allure the people for sending them abroad and used to charge a minimum amount of Rs 6 lakh for Schengen Visa (valid in 27 countries),” Ravindra Singh Yadav, Special CP, mentioned.
“For illegal entry in the USA through the Mexico border, they used to charge a person around 27 lakh. These sub-agents collect the original passports of these victims and bank details, which they give to the persons operating from Delhi. These sub-agents charge hefty amounts from aspirants. After that, these main alleged persons based in Delhi create a chain of forged and fabricated documents including bank statements, fake ITRs, etc,” the official said.
Arrested accused persons revealed that they were in this business for the last 10-12 years. This network is far-flung and spread in many states,including Haryana, Punjab, and Gujarat. The members of the racket were using highly encrypted applications for communication and running this illegal business,” they said. They were using two routes from India flights from New Delhi or Jaipur to Baku- Istanbul-EL Salvador Route using a Visa of Baku. And the second was Europe-Mexico Route by applying for Schengen Visa.
