30 UP FLYERS ARRESTED WITH FAKE TICKETS

MUMBAI: The Sahar police have arrested 30 men, aged between 21 and 43, for trying to travel with alleged fake air tickets and visas to Kuwait from Mumbai international airport. The men, who are from Uttar Pradesh, told the police that they were given the tickets by three agents who promised them jobs in the Gulf country.

The police have also booked the agents identified as Briddhi Chandra Jaiswal, who is said to be the kingpin, Roshan and Jogendra Sharma under charges of cheating and forgery. The flyers have demanded a separate first information report (FIR) be filed against the accused instead of clubbing their cases. Jaiswal used to run his office from Navghad in Siddharth Nagar district of Uttar Pradesh.

The fraud came to light when the 30 men showed their tickets to get their boarding passes at 2 am on Sunday. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) caught them and handed them over to the Sahar police the same day. An official from the Sahar police said 95 people had come from Uttar Pradesh to the city. Each of them allegedly paid Rs 1 lakh — which was paid in two instalments — to the agents for jobs, visas, tickets and passports. They checked into a hotel in Jogeshwari (West) on Thursday. The hotel was booked by Jaiswal, Roshan and Sharma, added the official. “Roshan and Sharma came to the hotel on Saturday night and gave fake visas and tickets to the 90 men, and took the rest of the money from them. The rest five people were told that they would get their tickets, visas and passports before they board the flight,” said Ram Jaiswal, cousin of one arrested man, Rahul Vijay Kumar, 22. “The three agents had promised all of them jobs and had given them air tickets, visas and passports at the hotel,” said Ram Jaiswal, .