KOCHI: The Ernakulam Rural district crime branch has launched a probe into a suspected human trafficking attempt after a 50-year-old woman from Kottayam was intercepted with a fake French visa by the immigration authority at Qatar airport.
A Thrissur-based agent who arranged the visa for the woman, hailing from Kaduthuruthy in Kottayam, for housekeeping work is currently under the police scanner.
On Sunday, the woman travelled from Kochi airport to Paris via Qatar. Though she was given immigration clearance from Kochi airport, the authorities in Qatar intercepted her. “The officials of Qatar airport found that the French visa stamped on her passport was fake. Soon, she was detained and asked to return to India. She was then deported and arrived at Kochi airport on Monday.
Meanwhile, the immigration authorities passed the information to the Indian Embassy in Qatar which alerted the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) in Kochi airport,” a police officer said.On her arrival, the BoI officials detained and interrogated her. She was later handed over to a police team from Nedumbassery airport. After registering a case, she was released on bail.
“The woman pleaded innocence during interrogation. The Kaduthuruthy native claimed that she paid over Rs 5 lakh to the agent in Thrissur for arranging the visa. The woman worked in Israel for years earlier and returned to Kerala. Though she tried to go back to Israel for work, she was not issued a visa. Thus, she approached another agent in Thrissur who arranged her fake visa to France,” said a police officer.
Suspecting a human trafficking bid, the district crime branch took over the probe in the case registered at Nedumbassery police station. “We have started attempts to trace the person who arranged her the fake visa. It has to be checked whether the agent has a valid licence for arranging jobs abroad. We are also checking whether the agency was involved in similar fake visa cases,” an officer at the district crime branch said.
Ernakulam district witnessed a sporadic rise in fake visa and cheating cases in the past several months as more people are looking to move abroad for jobs and education.
Last month, a couple was arrested by the Kochi City police who issued fake Singapore visas to 56 people and collected Rs 1.9 crores from them. The police also carried out a crackdown on overseas recruitment agencies that were operating without the license of the Protector of Emigrants.