KOCHI: After a brief lull, there has been a recent resurgence in cases involving individuals from other states attempting to move abroad via Kochi airport using counterfeit documents. Over the past month alone, the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) intercepted four such individuals.
Last year, numerous instances came to light where women from rural areas of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were sent to Gulf countries for domestic work using fraudulent documents, including passports. Following this, the number of such cases dropped. In recent months, however, BoI intercepted two individuals from Tamil Nadu, one from Haryana, and one from Uttar Pradesh at the airport’s immigration checkpoint.
“The individuals apprehended while attempting to travel abroad for employment without proper documentation are, in fact, victims of unscrupulous agents. Rather than departing from their native states, these individuals opt for airports in Kerala on the expectation that they can navigate immigration procedures smoothly. They have paid agents money, believing their claim that all necessary travel arrangements would be handled at the airport. When individuals coming through these agents are consistently caught at one airport, they tend to switch to other airports for their illegal activities,” a BoI officer told TNIE.
On October 2, BoI intercepted a 29-year-old from Haryana and a 20-year-old from Uttar Pradesh who were headed to London for employment.
Their educational certificates were found to be fake. Both individuals were handed over to police, who registered cases of cheating and forgery.
In another incident two weeks ago, BoI intercepted a woman from Tamil Nadu who was travelling to Abu Dhabi for employment. During an examination of her passport, officers found four pages missing.
She was handed over to police, who registered a case. Another woman from Tamil Nadu was apprehended last month while attempting to travel abroad with a doctored passport.
Following recent incidents, BoI has intensified its screening process at the airport. Officers are now thoroughly scrutinising every document held by individuals travelling abroad with work or tourist visas. They also question people from other states about their reasons for choosing to depart from Kochi instead of their native state.
“If the responses are not convincing, their documents are subjected to thorough verification,” said an officer.
In July, BoI thwarted an attempt by a Bangladeshi national to travel abroad using an Indian passport. The arrested individual arrived at the airport with an Aadhaar card, an election ID card, two PAN cards, and an ATM card from an Indian private bank issued in Karnataka, all of which were found to be fraudulent.
Immigration officials, suspecting foul play, examined the passenger’s mobile phone and discovered a scanned copy of his Bangladeshi passport.
It was revealed that he had entered India with a Bangladeshi passport, stayed in Agartala, and then moved to Karnataka, where he managed to obtain the counterfeit documents.
BOI INTENSIFIES SCREENING PROCESS
BoI has intensified its screening process at the airport. Officers are now thoroughly scrutinising every document held by individuals travelling abroad with work or tourist visas