Fake passport racket busted; six Lankan Tamils arrested

Chennai, Jun 23: Police on Monday claimed to have busted a fake passport and visa racket with the arrest of six Sri Lankan Tamils residing here.

Police said they were on the lookout for persons who had obtained the fake travel documents.

The gang, which charged Rs 30,000 per 'passport', was nabbed on a tip-off that its members used these fake passports and sometimes fake visas also to send fellow Sri Lankans and others to foreign countries, a police release said.

Of the six arrested, two of them had earlier served prison terms for the same crime.

The six -- identified as Mohammed Abubaker Siddique, Devasagayam, Jayasekar, Rajan, Krishnamurthy and Sivarangan -- were produced before a court which remanded them to judicial custody, the release said.

Action would be taken against beneficiaries of the racket since holding such fake documents was illegal, it said.

PTI