The Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) police apprehended 203 offenders, including travel agents and facilitators of illegal immigration, this year in a bid to crack down on visa and passport fraudsters, it said in a statement on Monday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGIA) Usha Rangnani said, “A total of 203 individuals have been held this year in comparison to 98 last year, which is a 107 percent increase in arrests that reflects a decisive shift in strategy and focus on dismantling illegal syndicates, targeting high-profile agents, and addressing the root causes of immigration fraud.”
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The year also saw unearthing of counterfeit visa factories, a significant rise in look out circulars, and the arrest of proclaimed offenders (POs), she said.
Giving details about the methods used by agents to facilitate illegal immigration, the DCP mentioned that agents forge visas that closely resembled authentic ones to dupe passengers and immigration officials; use donkey routes for illegal migration; re-issue passports for blacklisted individuals and foreign nationals using fake Indian passports; tampering with passports, immigration stamps and falsifying travel histories with fake stamps, among others.
Moreover, two major counterfeit visa factories, which served as hubs for producing fake documents, were also dismantled this year in Delhi’s Tilak Nagar and another in Gujarat’s Surat.
Furthermore, two syndicates providing fake visas were also unearthed, the first involving a passenger paying Rs 50 lakh to an agent, who orchestrated five failed attempts to send the victim to the US via Vietnam, Qatar, and Senegal.
The second syndicate involved Instagram application wherein two agents advertised guaranteed Canadian visas and lured gullible people using female models.
