Hyderabad: In a major breakthrough in the Telangana fake passport issuance case, the Criminal Investigation Department has arrested four Special Branch officials accused of conniving with the main accused to issue the fake passports to foreign nationals and criminals on the basis of forged documents, sources said.
Sources said that the role of the special branch officials surfaced during the internal investigation ordered by the Telangana CID into the passport fraud case. The fake passport issuing gang came to light after the CID received specific intelligence inputs about fake passports being issued to foreign nationals. In the subsequent raids launched at multiple places including Telangana capital Hyderabad besides Jagtial, Korutla, Nizamabad and Karimnagar, at least 12 accused were arrested including the kingpin Abdus Sattar Osman Al Jahwari (50), who hails from Hyderabad.
The preliminary CID investigation revealed that at least 92 foreigners had traveled abroad on the basis of fake passports issued to them on the basis of forged documents. It is learnt that the gang mostly issued bogus passports to Sri Lankan, Myanmar, and Bangladeshi nationals. It seems that most of the 92 bogus passport holders identified so far are hiding in refugee camps.
The CID has decided to issue Look Out Notices (LOCs) against the accused. Sources said that 3,800 people apply for passports in Telangana daily on an average. Under the recommended official procedure, the staff of the Special Branch are supposed to personally meet the applicants, inquire about their credentials and confirm that all the details mentioned in the application are correct, and send a report accordingly to the higher authorities.
However, the accused gang members are said to have managed passports to the foreign nationals while bypassing the normal official procedure.
