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Immigration racket busted, Bangladeshi national held
New Delhi:
New Delhi:
The tenant and servant verification drive being carried out by Delhi Police in view of the approaching Independence Day celebrations has led to the busting of an immigration (‘kabootarbaazi’) racket being run by an alleged Bangladeshi national living illegally in India, police said on Monday.
Apart from the Bangladeshi citizen, the police have arrested two men from Haryana who were a part of the racket. The gang used to illegally send people to European countries and Canada with forged passports.
They mostly targeted job-seeking people from Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Nepal. Eight passports of three different countries, fake Aadhaar cards and other incriminating documents were recovered from them, deputy commissioner of police (west) Deepak Purohit said.
DCP Purohit said a drive was launched recently to verify tenants living in the west district. On July 23, a joint team of the Rajouri Garden police station and Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) was carrying out a raid in Subhash Nagar.
During the drive, the police found a 37-year-old Bangladeshi national, Mohammad Raqibul Hasan, living in rented accommodation and in possession of a fake Aadhaar Card. His original Bangladeshi passport was seized. A case was registered against Hasan after it was found he had come to India in 2018 on a tourist visa that expired in November the same year but continued staying illegally in the country. Hasan was arrested, he said.
Purohit said the antecedents of the arrested Bangladeshi was verified and it transpired he was part of an organised syndicate involved in trafficking of people primarily from Bangladesh, Myanmar and Nepal. “Hasan’s interrogation led to the arrest of his two associates, Ankit Kumar,20, and Rajesh,26, both from Haryana,” the DCP said.
A senior police officer said the gang used to charge between R10 and R15 lakh from each person who aspired to be sent to Canada or European countries. “The gang members used to prepare fake passports, visa and other required documents. They claimed to have sent many people to these countries using forged documents. We are verifying it,” said the officer.
“Hasan said his associates import security press grade paper from Thailand and Malaysia and made fake visa at their set-up in Kolkata, West Bengal. These facts are being verified and investigation is on,” the DCP said.
Of the eight fake passports seized from the arrested persons, three are of Nepali citizens and one of a Bangladeshi nationals. The remaining are of Indian citizens, the police said.
Senior police officers said verification of nearly eight thousand tenants and servants are being done every day as part of the verification drive. Officials said data on the number of verifications is being compiled.
