UP ATS BUSTS PASSPORT RACKET, ARRESTS SIX

LUCKNOW: The Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) of the UP Police on Monday busted a racket of touts involved in fraudulently changing an ordinary passport into an ‘emigration check not required (ECNR)’ one with the help of fake documents and arrested six.

Cops also recovered 73 passports, a laptop, computer, printer and other documents, which were being used to make fake passports. Those arrested are Mohammad Maruf, Mohammad Faisal, Mohammad Javed Naqvi, Arman Khan, Kulvinder Singh and Shoab Ansari, all natives of Lucknow.

Of late, the ATS was receiving complaints related with fake passports being prepared by touts. Acting on these complaints and specific inputs, ATS chief inspector general of police, Aseem Arun, ordered a crackdown on these touts.

On Monday, the sleuths carried out raids at five locations. During interrogation the culprits told the cops that some employees of the regional passport office, Lucknow, were also involved in the racket. “Investigation is going on. Some staff members of the regional passport have been found to be involved in this racket. Once we establish their involvement, they will be arrested,” said Arun.

The stamp of emigration check not required (ECNR) on a passport helps a person bag a job offer in some select countries including Bahrain, Brunei, Kuwait, Jordan, Libya, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE among others. In the absence of an ECNR stamp, a person cannot get a job in these countries. High school certificate is a prerequisite for an ECNR stamp on a passport.

Touts were involved in the racket of procuring fake high school certificates for people seeking job in West Asian nations. According to sources, the ATS is now on the lookout for such people who have availed services of these touts for procuring fake high school certificates in a bid to ensure all important ECNR stamp on their passports.

Till late in the evening, ATS officials were interrogating the touts.