WOMAN WHO TOOK 17 MINORS ABROAD ON FAKE PASSPORTS HELD

MUMBAI: The Sahar police recently arrested a 43-year-old woman for allegedly taking 17 minors to the United States of America (USA) and Mexico on forged passports between 2015 and 2016.

According to police, the accused, Harsha Modi, stated the minors as her children on the forged passports. She was arrested after her anticipatory bail was rejected by the court. She has been sent to judicial custody. Anil Kumbhare, deputy commissioner of police, confirmed the arrest.

A police officer said, “Most of the minors are from Gujarat. In many cases, a member from a family goes abroad but is unable to take others, especially children. So they use agents like Harsha to get their family members illegally abroad.” The minors were first taken to the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Switzerland and then finally to the US and Mexico. Police are investigating if the minors were taken for employment or any other activity.

However, police have ascertained that Harsha was only a carrier and there are more people involved in the racket. She would get ₹3 lakh each for taking the children. Harsha also let four other women forge her passport to commit the same crime. Each of the women, including Harsha herself, would take a boy and a girl during each trip. The police said that the accused would bring back the forged passports to India after taking the minors abroad and re-use them.

The matter came to light after immigration officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) conducted an internal inquiry and detained Harsha’s husband, Hemang, 52. The immigration officials then lodged an FIR and handed him over to the Sahar police, who arrested him on October 24, 2017. The same year, Harsha was named an accused in the case.