Hyderabad: Gang involved in facilitating passports for foreigners busted

Hyderabad: Following simultaneous raids across the State, 12 special teams of CID officers busted a racket involved in processing of passports for foreign nationals, officials informed on Saturday.

The investigation carried out by special teams of the department apprehended 12 accused including the primary accused Abdus Sattar Osman Al Jahwari (50). They were dealing with processing passports for foreign nationals with fake documents. The accused include 9 agents and two special branch (SB) officers, besides the primary accused.

Sattar who had experience in preparing fake Aadhaar cards, voter ID cards, birth certificates and other documents, had acquainted with a passport broker at Chennai and developed a racket. He charged Rs 75,000 for each case forwarded by a Chennai based agent. While the said agent furnished the names of the passport seekers to Sattar, the latter would make fake documents and also registered slots on the candidates’ names. The candidates would visit Hyderabad on the booked dates. For ensuring smooth business, Sattar also managed some SB officials for clearing ‘police verification’.

“In this way the accused along with his associates processed more than 100 passports as per preliminary investigation. A special team has also apprehended the Chennai agent at Bengaluru and he is being produced before the local court for bringing him to Hyderabad,” informed Shikha Goel, Additional DGP (CID).

So far the investigation has revealed that 92 passports were issued through this gang and scores of them have already been used for travelling abroad, she added.

The CID registered a case under various sections on January 18 and undertook investigation.

The CID also seized 108 passports, 15 mobile phones, 5 laptops amongst other incriminating materials during the investigation. “The arrested accused are being produced before the court for judicial remand.