E-Paper
Illegal immigration racket busted in Jalandhar, 536 passports seized
Four Ludhiana men facing around 120 criminal cases arrested, were running five Illegal immigration agencies in Jalandhar
The Jalandhar police on Wednesday claimed to have busted an illegal immigration racket with the arrest of four men, who are facing around 120 criminal cases and were running five unauthorised consultancies in the city to dupe people on the pretext of sending them abroad.
Police have also recovered 536 Indian passports, ₹49,000 cash, a laptop, and three computers from the possession of the suspects, identified as Nitin, Amit Sharma, Sahil Ghai, and Tajinder Singh. All belong to Ludhiana.
According to Jalandhar police commissioner Gursharan Singh Sandhu, Nitin alone is facing 104 criminal cases at various police stations in Punjab, while Tajinder has been booked eight times, Amit four times and Sahil thrice.
Sandhu said that the special operation unit (SOU) of the commissionerate police started investigations after getting a tip-off about the alleged racket. Five agencies were under the police radar: VV Overseas and Landmaze Overseas near the local bus stand, Punjab to Abroad Consultancy at Alfa Estate, World Wide Overseas at Grand Mall and Visa City Consultancy at BM Tower near Football Chowk.
Police after a preliminary investigation raided VV Overseas, from where Amit, Nitin and Sahil were arrested, said Sandhu. On the basis of their interrogation, police nabbed Tajinder and recovered 536 Indian passports, cash and equipment from the premises of the remaining four agencies.
The police commissioner said that further investigation is on to expose the whole nexus and arrest other gang members, if any. “A fresh case under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code besides under the Punjab Travel Professions Regulation Act has been registered against the four men at the Navi Baradari police station in Jalandhar,” he said.
