Ahmedabad: The Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested two persons, including a Bangladeshi national, for allegedly helping illegal immigrants from the neighbouring country acquire Indian passports using forged documents, officials said on Wednesday.
A total of 17 Bangladeshi nationals acquired Indian passports with the help of these accused, identified as Mohammad Didarul Alam and Shoeb Qureshi, the ATS said in a release.
A third accused, Robiul Islam, is hiding in South Korea, said the release.
ATS said that Alam, alias Rana Sarkar, illegally entered India from Bangladesh in 2012.
His accomplice Qureshi, originally from Rajasthan, has been running a shop named ‘Al Quresh Enterprise’ in the city’s Narol area since 2015 for providing services like filling online forms for Aadhaar, PAN and passport, ATS said.
A native of Kishoreganj district of Bangladesh, Alam came to Ahmedabad in 2015 and got an Indian passport in 2017 using fake papers.
Since 2018, Alam has been running a shop named ‘VIP Mobile and Money Transfer’ in Baug-E-Kausar locality in Narol area.
With the help of Islam and Qureshi, Alam started helping illegal migrants obtain Indian passports using bogus birth certificates, rent agreements, Aadhaar and PAN cards, said the release.
Acting on a tip, the ATS raided Alam’s shop a few days ago and recovered several Aadhaar and PAN cards, election ID cards, and an identity card issued by the Bangladesh government, besides other documents.
During a similar raid at Qureshi's shop, ATS discovered nearly 300 copies of forged Aadhaar, PAN cards and birth certificates, said the anti-terror agency.
The data stored in Qureshi’s computer showed that the trio had helped 17 Bangladeshi nationals get Indian passports with the help of fake documents. Also, the applications of nine Bangladeshi nationals are pending with the Indian passport authorities, said the release.
The trio has been booked under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for forgery, the Passport Act and the Foreigners Act, said the release.
The development came days after the city crime branch arrested a Bangladeshi woman, who was living illegally since 2016, for allegedly acquiring an Indian passport using forged documents.
Using that passport, the woman travelled to countries like South Africa and the UAE, and even visited Bangladesh to meet her relatives there, said an official.