Mira Road man held with fake passport

A 38-year-old man from Mira Road was arrested on Monday with a fake passport. The accused, Mohammad Salim Abdul Rehman Hegde alias Shaikh Abdul Qadar, is believed to have travelled abroad several times using the same passport, especially to Saudi Arabia, said a crime branch officer.

The crime branch is verifying Qadar’s antecedents and carrying out investigations to know if he has any links with any terrorist organisation.

According to police, specific information was received by unit VIII of the crime branch that a man would be arriving near Andheri-Kurla Road with a fake passport to meet someone.

Accordingly, a trap was laid by the police and Qadar was arrested. The police seized a bogus passport (in the name of Shaikh Abdul Qadar), a PAN Card, a mobile phone and Rs600 from his possession.

During interrogation, Qadar told the police that he had travelled abroad several times using the same passport.

“We are finding out how he obtained the fake passport and investigating to know the purpose of his visits abroad. We don’t want to take any chances and we are verifying whether he had links with any radical outfit,” said a police officer.

Qadar was produced before a local court and was remanded in police custody till January 2.