Fake passport racket found in Kanpur

By PIYUSH SRIVASTAVA, 5 July 2013, MAIL ONLINE INDIA.

More than 50 terrorists are moving from one country to another on passports issued by the Lucknow passport office. 

If that's not alarming enough, sources say, senior officers of the passport office are directly involved in the racket for anything between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5,00,000 per person and have issued passports to at least 50 suspected ISI agents. 

The Kanpur Police arrested 17 persons from the local passport service centre where they were allegedly processing genuine passports on forged documents.

The police unearthed a fake passport racket following a raid

The police recovered 200 passport forms, 50 fake birth certificates, 16 fake voter identity cards and six passports, which were made the same day, besides several mobile phones and laptops. 

Senior Superintendent of Police Yashashvi Yadav, who conducted a sting operation before arresting the accused, said: "We have arrested only a few. There are many more involved in the racket. Expect more arrests soon." Another officer said: "We found that at least 50 passports have been issued to either suspected ISI agents or those with terror links." 

Surprisingly, the news drew sharp reactions from employees of Regional Passport Office in Lucknow. They went on an indefinite strike demanding immediate release of their colleagues, claiming the employees were falsely implicated.