RGIA police bust fake visa scam

Woman Immigration officer and 7 others held

Hyderabad: The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) police on Monday apprehended an eight-member gang including a woman immigration officer at the RGIA for making fake visas and other documents to send innocent public to Arab countries.

Alerted by the deportation of several Indian women by Arab countries, on charges of possessing fake visas, the RGIA police registered cases for probe and busted the racket, said Shamshabad DCP AR Srinivas during a press conference on Monday at his office.

Taking advantage of the pathetic living conditions of poor women, the gang cheated the Government of India and also the public. They collected the passports and other identification cards of the women and sent them to Kafils (Employer/Owner) abroad to shortlist the prospective persons. The agents have been collecting Rs one lakh for sending one woman to work in Arab countries.

Bypassing the legal process, the agents prepared fake visiting visas and tourist visas, fake POE certificates on the name of passengers and instructed them to produce only the tourist visa at the Airport to get clearance. Once the passenger reaches their destination, they get employed illegally, the DCP said.

Upon investigation, Tetali Subbi Reddy (60), passport agent of Bangalore, who had sent about 100 women on average every month to Arab countries, was arrested. He has about 30 sub-agents to identify the victims. Most of the victims hailed from West Godavari, East Godavari, Bangalore and Mumbai, the DCP said.

The teams also arrested, Yeddula Shankar (42), travel agent from Kadapa, Thota Kanteshwara alias Manikanta (22) of Kadapa, Mudidana David Raju (38) of West Godavari, Sabjar Hussain (41) of Kamareddy, who were sending around 25 women each to Arab countries illegally.

DCP said Debora Dommara (40), woman officer working in Immigration department at RGIA since 2013, was also arrested for issuing clearance to the passengers with fake POEs and one Jakkamshetti Venkateshwar Rao (30), a Coffee Shop supervisor at RGIA,

who acted as a mediator between agents and immigration officers in settling the money matters and Syed Iliyaz (25), customer service agent of Jet Airways was arrested for issuing boarding pass to the passengers sent by the agents.

“As the women enter the Arab countries illegally, they get stuck. Many women working under inhuman conditions there are helpless,” DCP AR Srinivas said.