New Delhi:
Police on Thursday claimed to have busted a racket involved in obtaining visas through fraudulent means with the arrest of five persons including a Spanish national.
Anand Malkani, Upkar Singh, Satish Rattu and Maxaon Tito, all residents of Delhi, were caught from Lajpat Nagar on December 17 while Spanish national Gerardo Morante Mendez was arrested the next day, police said.
Twelve passports, two laptops, one visa sticker, a Santro car and some other "incriminating" documents were seized from them, they said.
The racket allegedly used to assist migration of Indian nationals to Spain and other European countries by providing them 'Schengen visa' obtained through fraudulent means.
Tito used to lure people aspiring to migrate to Spain or European countries while Rattu used to prepare forged documents. Malkani was leader of the racket and he coordinated with Spanish national Gerardo, who obtained the visas on the basis of forged documents through a diplomat in Spanish Embassy, a senior police officer said.
He, however, clarified that there was "nothing so far" to suggest the Spanish official (diplomat) was also part of the racket or was even aware of the fact that Geraldo was obtaining 'Schengen visa' through him by fraudulent means.
Investigation is on to ascertain how many visas the gang procured from the Spain Embassy by fraudulent means. Efforts are also on to identify and locate the people who got the visas through the racket, the officer said.
Preliminary probe has revealed that the racket was operating for the last seven years in various parts of the country, especially Punjab, police said.
"The racket members used to charge their 'clients' handsome amounts which range from Rs eight to Rs 10 lakh. They used to receive the money from their clients in different phases," the officer said.
According to police, Tito, who was a former employee of Ashok Yatri Niwas, allegedly used to visit Punjab and other states and contact unemployed persons including youth who wanted to migrate to European countries.
Since aspirants belonged to villages were not able to provide genuine papers required for getting visa, the racket allegedly used to prepare forged supportive documents and obtain visas for them from the embassy.
The Special Operation Squad of the Crime Branch arrested the five accused.