3 held at Jaipur airport with fake Iraqi visas

Jaipur: Three men were arrested at Jaipur International Airport Tuesday for attempting to travel to Iraq using counterfeit tourist visas, police said.The accused were identified as Suresh Kumar (47) from Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, Alok Kumar Singh (31) from Patna in Bihar, and Rupesh Yadav (32) from East Champaran in Bihar.DCP (East) Ranjita Sharma said the trio came under suspicion during document verification before boarding their flight to Baghdad after the officials noticed discrepancies in their visas. “During questioning, all the accused were nervous and were unable to respond to the queries, leading to further investigation.”During preliminary investigation, police found that the accused were allegedly lured by an agent identified as Mukesh Lakhar, who promised to send them abroad on tourist visas.According to investigators, the agent called the three men to Jaipur on May 17 and arranged their stay at a hotel near Polo Victory. The following day, he allegedly handed over the fake visas and briefed them on how to answer questions during immigration checks.Police said the men were instructed to tell officials that they were travelling to Baghdad to repair a machine that had allegedly developed a technical fault after being shipped from Jaipur.

Police have launched a larger investigation into the network supplying these fake visas. A case has been registered under relevant sections of the BNS and other applicable laws.Police suspect the existence of a wider network involved in preparing fake visas and facilitating illegal foreign travel. Investigators are now examining whether more people were sent abroad using a similar modus operandi and are also tracing the financial transactions linked to the racket.“We are investigating the entire network, including those involved in preparing the counterfeit visas and the money trail connected to it,” a police officer said.