Fake passport racket suspected with Indian mission in US' help

The letter was sent in the wake of investigators finding out that the fake passports detected bore the signature of a senior official at the Indian mission in Washington and was in the same series.

Sources said Delhi Police informed the Ministry after it found a pattern in these incidents and it had serious ramifications to the security of the country.

"Interestingly, all these people who were caught had US Green Card. They don't need visas. Then how these documents were attached with the passports. This gave rise to suspicion and during analysis we found that in all the 19 cases, passports bore the signature of a particular officer in the US mission and were from the same series," a senior police official said.

The people, who were caught, appear to have gone to the US on fake passports which they abandoned after being issued the Green Card there, the official said adding they managed to get fresh travel documents through forgery but were caught during immigration clearance.

During scrutiny, sources said, it was found that the particulars in the passports produced by passengers did not match with the data stored in the government system.

"When we crosschecked the passports shown to us, we found that the particular numbers were already issued in the names of some others," the official said.

"It could be a big racket. So we decided to inform the External Affairs Ministry," the official said.