ATS busts fake passport racket: Afghan national held in Jabalpur for living illegally for over 10 years; 2 accomplices detained

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested an Afghan national from Jabalpur for allegedly living illegally in India for over a decade using a fake Indian passport.

Two local accomplices have also been taken into custody in connection with the racket.The suspect, identified as Sohbat Khan, son of Badruddin Khan, had been residing in Jabalpur’s Chhoti Omti area. Police said he had earlier married and divorced a local woman. Investigations revealed he had been preparing forged property documents in West Bengal and Chhattisgarh to fraudulently obtain an Indian passport in 2020.According to ATS officials, around 20 fake passports have been traced so far, including those of two West Bengal residents identified as Akbar and Iqbal, suspected to have terror links. Sohbat also procured a driving licence from Jabalpur in 2015 using forged documents.The other two arrested have been identified as Dinesh Garg (40), a resident of Vijay Nagar, and Mahendra Kumar Sukhad (45), a resident of Katanga. Dinesh is employed as a forest guard with the Forest Department and has been working with the Municipal Corporation’s election cell for the past two years.

Preliminary investigations suggest that the gang changed passport addresses online, replacing West Bengal details with local addresses. Officials suspect payments of nearly Rs 10 lakh were made to various local agencies, including police and postal staff, to facilitate the issuance of forged passports.The ATS is questioning the trio to identify others involved in the network, including those who assisted in document forgery and passport issuance. Further probe is underway.