New Delhi: The Delhi Police have arrested a record 203 people this year in a severe crackdown on those who perpetrated visa and passport fraud.
This is a 107 percent jump from 2023—when only 98 arrests were made—as the city police’s Indira Gandhi International unit struck to dismantle syndicates that aid illegal immigration.
Moreover, a significant number of 121 look-out circulars were issued in 2024, a 100 percent mark-up over last year.
Among those arrested, the IGI police said, there were travel agents as well as facilitators of illegal immigration into India. Most of those arrested were from Punjab, 70, followed by Haryana at 32 and 25 each from Delhi and Uttar Pradesh.
The IGI unit has also busted counterfeit visa-manufacturing units, including one each in Delhi and Gujarat, and arrested absconding proclaimed offenders attempting to leave the country. The arrested numbered 56 this year, against just 24 in 2023.
The Delhi unit functioned out of Tilak Nagar, and was headed by graphic designer Manoj Monga. He was the key brain behind producing visas for Canada, the US, the UAE, and European nations. He also counterfeited immigration stamps and seals.
Further probe into the Monga case resulted in a total of eight arrests in Delhi, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh and seizure of more than 800 fake visa stickers. Seven people from Gujarat, Haryana and Punjab were also arrested in a similar syndicate busted in Surat.
Speaking to the media, DCP (IGI Police) Usha Rangnani said the crackdown was “part of a larger operation aimed at disrupting major visa fraud rings, and exposing the complex methods used by agents to exploit immigration loopholes”.
‘Donkey routes, fake departures, impersonation’
Of the 203 agents arrested, 142 were detained in connection with new cases, while the remaining arrests followed the review of ongoing investigations.
While 71 people were arrested in fake visa cases, 16 agents were arrested this year in “donkey route” cases or those dealing with illegal migration. In addition, 31 individuals were arrested for facilitating the impersonation of passengers to resemble original passport holders.
Three agents were arrested for issuing passports to blacklisted individuals, 23 for providing fake Indian passports to foreign nationals; another 23 for tampering with passports; 18 for creating fake travel history and four for helping passengers disguise their appearances and look like people on whose names they were travelling.
Nine agents have been arrested in “fake departure” cases in which passengers return as deportees without their departure being recorded in the immigration system. These passengers often used someone else’s passport for their initial journey—therefore, their departure was not found in immigration records.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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