Foreign national criminals descend on Gurugram to make quick buck

Gurugram: The death of African national Charles Michels may just prove to be a tip of an iceberg of a large number of foreign criminals that have now made Gurugram the base to carry out their criminal activities. What started off as a part of being involved in sex rackets has now transitioned into drug pedaling, betting to even supplying of the illegal arms.

How dangerous this trend is turning out in the crime scene of Gurugram can be gauged from the fact that the two Africa nationals not only possessed illegal arms but also a huge cache of drugs amounting to Rs 55 lakh.

In a major law and order challenge for the Gurugram police, people from various foreign identities are now venturing Gurugram to carry out their criminal activities. In various sex rackets that have been busted by the district police, there is a sizeable number of foreign nationals that are being arrested. Some of the countries where people have been arrested are from Thailand, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. There is also a strong nexus that is developing between the public officials and the agencies that allow these foreign nationals to operate. There have been more than 25 foreigners that are supposedly being arrested for various acts of crime.

Last year, a woman from Afghanistan who was indulged in the sex racket, was arrested by the law enforcement officials. Investigations later revealed that she was operating as Indian national with a fake Aadhar card. Simultaneously various arrests of foreign criminals have revealed a disturbing trend of them having a fake identity card. Investigations into the death of Shoknes, an Uzbek national who recently died in the Bhondsi prison also highlighted that she was residing in the country with the fake name. Not only sex racket but sources in the police said that most of them were now getting involved in criminal activities of drug pedaling, the sale of illegal liquor and arms, bettings to even dabbling in unscrupulous land deals.

Gangs from Bangladesh and Nepal have now also indulged in activities like abduction, burglaries carjackings and cyber crimes.

Police officials assert that opportunity to make quick bucks, glitz, and glamour of the city and a large number of foreign expatriates residing in the city make it an ideal place for carrying out crimes. Ironically most of the foreign nationals especially Nigerians are using social media platforms to befriend people and then dupe them.