Delhi Police arrests over 130 in visa, passport fraud in 2025; assets targeted

New Delhi: The Delhi Police arrested over 130 individuals in 2025, including travel agents and facilitators, as part of its crackdown on visa and passport fraud.

In a first-of-its-kind move, the IGI Airport unit of the Delhi Police also initiated financial investigations against the accused agents to trace proceeds of crime, leading to the freezing of more than 100 bank accounts with suspicious transactions, he said.

The arrests were made from different parts of the country as part of a drive against organised networks involved in forging travel documents, cheating passengers and facilitating illegal overseas travel.

"Investigating officers were specifically directed to examine the financial aspects of the frauds and establish the money trail," a senior police officer said on Friday, adding that although a large portion of the payments in such cases was made in cash, investigators were still able to identify significant financial links.

Police said assets suspected to have been acquired from proceeds of criminal activities are being identified. In one case, an application has already been filed before a competent court seeking attachment of property belonging to an accused agent. Similar action is being initiated against other agents where evidence permits, officials said.

Police also got 140 lookout circulars (LOCs) issued in 2025 to prevent absconding accused from fleeing the country. As a result, several offenders attempting to travel abroad were intercepted at airports, they said.

The crackdown also resulted in the arrest of 119 proclaimed offenders, including individuals wanted in cases that were more than a decade old, police added.

Apart from visa and passport fraud, police intensified action against touting and theft from passenger baggage and cargo areas. More than 300 cases of touting were registered during the year, leading to the arrest of over 400 people, officials said.

In cases related to theft from baggage and cargo, over 60 people were arrested. Police said ground handling staff of concerned airlines were also questioned as part of the investigation to ascertain possible involvement or negligence.