Hyderabad: Constable, 15 agents held in visa tampering racket

HYDERABAD: Eighteen persons, including two employees of different airlines and a constable, were arrested on Wednesday in the ongoing investigation into the human trafficking racket unearthed recently. Two more police personnel, both head constables with Telangana and Andhra Pradesh police and on deputation at the immigration desk of the RGI Airport, are likely to be arrested soon. Over 70 persons had attempted to go to Kuwait with tampered visas obtained fraudulently.
Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Cyberabad police commissioner VC Sajjanar said the 15 arrested agents in connivance with Chevella constable G Madhu, Gulf Airlines team leader Mohammed Mujeeb Khan and former Oman Airlines employee Annapa Reddy Ram Linga Reddy were executing the fraud.
The agents used to remove employment visa sticker from passports by heating it with an iron box and erasing the remaining stamp on the passport with ink remover. It would be replaced with visit visa, police said. The prospective employees would hide original documents like employment visa in their hand baggage or in their garments.
“After boarding a flight, the workers tear up the fake visit visa before reaching the destination. They will paste the original employment visa in the passport and show original documents like Police Clearance Certificate (PCC) and original employment visa and passport to officials in Kuwait,” Sajjanar said.
Unskilled workers who have not passed SSC examination and seek employment abroad should have emigration check required (ECR) clearance from the Protector of Emigrants (PoE). To circumvent the process, people contact agents to tamper their visa and passport.
Deputy commissioner of police, Shamshabad, N Prakash Reddy said constable Madhu, a writer, in the absence of the a constable, who was authorised to issue PCC, used to illegally issue PCC for ineligible persons through fraudulent means and make money. Madhu had earlier worked at RGI Airport police station.
On the role of Mujeeb and Annapa, police said they had issued boarding pass to many passengers with visit visa by issuing boarding pass to take a flight to Kuwait without verifying whether they were having return ticket or not. In some cases, they accepted fake return tickets too.
Police had seized 250 passports, fake visas, 38 cell phones, fake rubber stamps, 160 PCCs, six computers, five laptops, two printers and Rs 5 lakh cash.