As many as 450 cases of forged passport were detected by immigration officials at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in the last six months.
450 cases of forgery reported at Sahar in the past six months, but police are clueless about the culprits
As many as 450 cases of forged passport were detected by immigration officials at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) in the last six months.
Sahar police have count of every single complaint, but are clueless about how to bring them to book.
On an average, police come across two to three cases daily of people trying to travel abroad either on forged passports or bogus visas.
“The 450 cases registered with us in the past six months range from forged stamps, signatures or tampered photographs,” said inspector Pravin Chinchalkar of Sahar Airport police station.
Interestingly, only two per cent of these forged passports were made in Mumbai. “The agents involved in the racket are not based in Mumbai and hence, it is very very difficult to trace them,” assistant commissioner of police Janardhan Garje told DNA. “Forging passport, permit visa and continuous discharge certificate (CDC) are the most rampant.”
“Many a time, the racketeers are found to be based outside Maharashtra, making it even more tougher to nab them,” said a cop, who too is a member of the probe team, on condition of anonymity.
In majority of the cases, people arrested with forged passports were found to be hapless victims, absolutely unaware of the dubious activities of travel agents. The police investigation hits a dead end once the victim says that he has got the passport done with the help of an agent from outside Maharashtra.
“As a deterrent measure, we tell them that they would be prosecuted if they are found with bogus travel documents ever again,” said Garje.
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