MPCD arrested Mahamad Sakil Ahmed, Ramjan Ali, Faruk Ahmed and Sharif in possession of a forged passport. The Nepali passport issued in the name of one Burju Bishwas was counterfeited as that of one Saifal Islam with his photo replacing the original one. [break]
The forgery racket was reportedly involved in bringing Bangladeshi nationals to the capital and then sending them to other countries with passports having false identities of Nepali nationals.
“Passports are usually tampered with by changing photos of the original passport holders with that of foreign nationals,” said Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Rana Bahadur Chand, chief of Metropolitan Police Crime Division. “We have to seriously deal with security threats posed by the new modus operandi employed in committing crimes.”
Though Bangladeshi nationals are said to have forged Nepali passports for easy entry into gulf countries for work, investigative officials pointed out with apprehension that foreigners could also have used them as covers to their criminal records.
“We will look into all dimensions of such cases,” said Superintendent of Police (SP) Dinesh Amatya.
Passport forgery made the headlines on January, 2010 after a non-gazetted officer, Bachchuram KC, was arrested for procuring fake Nepali passports to foreigners.
KC had admitted to the prosecutors that he procured at least 150 Nepali passports for foreigners taking advantage of his posting at the passport section of Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
How do the rackets get passports?
Besides cracking down on the passport forgery rackets, it is also necessary to know how they acquire Nepali passports, officials said.
Investigative officials said that besides using lost passports, the institutions and persons that keep people´s passports for various purposes could be misusing them.
“Our next step is to get close to those who are most likely to collect people´s passports under different pretexts and turn them over to the racketeers,” said Chand. “We have even found passports of cops misused in that way.”
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