Afghan, Nepalese held for immigration racket

An Afghan national and his Nepalese counterpart were arrested here for allegedly facilitating the illegal immigration of people to Australia via Cambodia and Indonesia.

The Special Cell of the Delhi Police nabbed the accused Sayed Salem, hailing from Afghanistan and Anand Kumar Subba Limbu from Nepal.

Police said they are wanted in immigration cases with the Airport Police in Kolkata.

“The gang used fake Nepalese passports and facilitated immigration of Afghani nationals to foreign countries, using Cambodia and Indonesia as transit points,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Shibesh Singh.

The arrests came after Delhi Police received inputs from central intelligence agencies that Salem, currently based in Bhogal, is allegedly involved in procuring forged Nepalese passports for Afghan nationals.

Kolkata Police also informed their Delhi counterparts that the duo was wanted in connection with a case there.

“Surveillance was mounted in Bhogal area to apprehend Rehman. A raid was conducted at Kashmiri Park in Jangpura Extension and they were arrested,” added Singh.

Salem allegedly told police that since the Australian government was not issuing visas to Afghan nationals, he arranged for fake Nepalese passports for six Afghans, who were arrested in Kolkata on April 24.

“These fake Nepalese passports were arranged by Jeevan, Limbu and Hari, all of whom hail from Nepal,” added Singh. Rehman charges $ 3,500 per person for facilitating the fake passport that was handed over to Jeevan and Limbu.

Limbu revealed that he, along with his relative Jeevan, arranged forged Nepalese passports for Afghans based on fake identities through Krishna.

He further revealed that he had e-mailed the photographs and other relevant details of six Afghan nationals to Krishna, who, in turn, managed their forged Nepalese passports.

Krishna then sent the fake passports to Delhi via courier.