Hyderabad: The Crime Investigation Department (CID) on Saturday arrested 12 persons including two special branch (SB) officers involved in acquiring passports by submitting with fake and forged documents for foreign nationals. Police said the gang had processed over 100 passports of which 92 were used for international travel.
Based on the arrest of one of the accused on January 18, the CID started conducted coordinated raids in Nizamabad, Jagtial, Korutla, Nizamabad and Karimnagar and arrested the others.
The prime accused Abdus Sattar Osman Al Jahwari, 50, a local, was forging educational certificates for 12 years. He had been earlier arrested by the city task force, Shika Goel, ADG CID, said in a press release.
He started forging passports, charging between up to Rs.1 lakh apiece, for a Chennai-based agent who had connections with Sri Lankan citizens and refugees, Goel said. The gang used to created fake Aadhaar cards, voter IDs, birth certificates and educational documents.
The CID seized 108 passports, 15 mobile phones, five laptops, four CPUs, three printers, 11 pen drives, a scanner, and passport application-related documents.
