VISAKHAPATNAM: As the 3rd T20 International cricket match between India and Sri Lanka is all set to be played, the issue of fake tickets has been bothering the city police. Ingenious are the ways of the miscreants who design tickets for cricket matches and confidently enter stadium. The issue came to light during the IPL matches here last year.
Several Xerox and Internet cafes in the city were into such business by joining hands with some gangs. As soon as the Mee-Seva centres issue tickets, the gangs fake them by replicating the design, colour, making it tough to identify the original from the duplicate. Police sources said that only upon thorough examination they could recognise the fake ones. But in such huge crowd, it’s difficult to identify fake tickets.
“There is no scrutinising system to check tickets at the stadium. Volunteers who check the tickets will be in a hurry to clear the spectators. So there are good chances of a person with duplicate ticket gaining entry into the stadium easily. During the IPL matches last year, many persons made illegal entry through this way,” added a police source. It is learnt that the miscreants shuffle the duplicate tickets with the original ones to avoid suspicion while checking. The police suspect that chance are more to duplicate `300 or `600 tickets as the stands of these tickets will have huge crowd and the police quicken the entry procedure by giving only a fleeting glance at the ticket.
City police commissioner Amit Garg said that they were cogitating over the issue and keeping an eye on the Xerox and Internet centres in the city, particularly at major junctions. Policemen in plainclothers will also be kept in the stands as security cover.