Hyderabad man held for duping people with fake foreign passports

New Delhi: A 42-year-old absconding fraudster was nabbed from Hyderabad for allegedly duping people with fake foreign passports, a Delhi Police official said on Thursday, January 25.

The accused was identified as Sayed Shoukat Ulla. The officials said that he was working as a ticket booking agent and was involved in a syndicate which used to lure victims on the pretext of sending them abroad by offering approved passports of foreign countries at cheaper rates.

His arrest comes over a year after two passengers and an agent travelling on a fake Malaysian passport were nabbed by the IGI airport police.

According to police, on September 11, 2022, two passengers, namely Nilesh Shailesh Bhai Patel and Ramesh Bhai Shantilal, arrived at Delhi airport after being deported from Azerbaijan by air carrier Air India flight and approached for arrival immigration clearance.

During scrutiny of travel documents, it was revealed that both duo passengers departed to Dubai, UAE from ICP Mumbai on July 21, 2022 on their Indian Passports on the strength of tourist/visit visa.

“Later, they departed from Dubai, UAE to Baku, Azerbaijan via Muskat (transit) on their Indian Passport. But on reaching Baku, Azerbaijan, they produced forged Malaysian passports issued in their names for their entry in Baku which they had acquired fraudulently. The Baku Immigration authorities returned both the pax to Muskat and after that they were issued emergency certificates in Muscat, Oman to facilitate their return to India,” said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (IGI) Usha Rangnani.

During the investigation, both the said passengers disclosed that their journey to Europe via Azerbaijan was arranged by one agent Vijay Patel in lieu of Rs 40 lakh (Rs 20 lakh for each passenger).

“Vijay was also arrested and during further probe, it was revealed that the accused Sayed Shoukat Ulla had booked the tickets of both pax and was also involved in making forged Malaysian passports,” said the DCP.

“Ulla was absconding and deliberating evading his arrest in said case,” said the DCP.

However, recently, police received specific inputs regarding Ulla and he was nabbed from the Hyderabad Airport as he was in planning to abscond to Dubai through a flight.

“Further efforts are being made to scrutinise his bank accounts and to trace their possible involvement in other similar complaints/cases also,” said the DCP.