Fake Indian visa racket busted, 5 held

The Delhi Police on Friday busted a fake Indian visa racket and arrested five African nationals, including a woman.

The accused were involved in making fake Indian visas, printing counterfeit US dollars, passports, watermarks, residential permits, stamps and seals, the police said.

The arrested have been identified as Gabriel Olawale Ajisafe, 53, Sunny Odigie, 40, and Enwere Okechukwa Kelvin Enwere, 33, of Nigeria, Caroline Cherotich, 41, of Kenya and Augustine John Kwaku Kyare, 45, of Ghana.

The police have also recovered 61 fake stamps/seals of Indian and foreign immigration authorities and various embassies, counterfeit US dollars of 100 denominations worth Rs 22,000, 155 fake passports of Lesotho, Ghana, Botswana and other countries, fake watermarks, fake yellow fever cards, screen printing set and other incriminating materials from their possession.

“Their clients were mainly African nationals whose passports were impounded due to their involvement in criminal cases. People who were illegally staying in India and did not have the required travel documents had also approached the gang,” said Ashok Chand, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime and Railways).

He said Gabriel and Sunny were arrested on Wednesday near Golcha Cinema in Darya Ganj. “They walked into a trap after a deal was struck between the racketeers and a decoy customer for providing a fake passport with Indian visa and immigration stamp. Twelve fake Indian visas were recovered from them,” Chand added.

Subsequently, raids were conducted on their hideout at Ganesh Nagar and Enwere, Caroline and Augustine were arrested.

All the accused were interrogated and it was revealed that the kingpin of the racket was Gabriel and that the racketeers were active for the past one year. “They printed counterfeit US dollars with the help of screen printing technology. The printing was exquisite and they could also reproduce the impression of the watermark of a genuine US dollar. They claimed that counterfeit notes are being sent to African countries for circulation there,” Chand said.