KOCHI: Yet another incident of overseas job aspirants being duped by agents with forged documents has come to light after an Alappuzha native was deported from Spain as he was found carrying a fake visa.Shibin Babu, 24, was intercepted by the Bureau of Immigration (BoI) at the Kochi airport upon his arrival on Monday morning. He was later handed over to the Nedumbassery police, which registered a case against Shibin and the agent, Jobin Michael, who arranged the Spanish visa.
“We received information that a Keralite was being deported from Spain after immigration authorities there intercepted him with a fake visa. On the arrival, we checked the passport of the Alappuzha native and found that the visa stamped on page 6 was fake. We have handed him over to the police to register a case and conduct an investigation,” an official at the airport said.
During interrogation, Shibin claimed that he was cheated by Jobin Micheal of Ernakulam, who arranged the visa. The police have summoned Jobin for interrogation. They found that the agent arranged a fake visa for Shibin after charging a hefty sum.
The police are also probing whether Jobin had arranged forged documents for other job aspirants also. Shibin and Jobin have been booked under IPC sections 468 (forgery), 471 (using forged document as genuine) and Passport Act 12(1)(b) for holding a forged passport or any travel document.
The police had earlier busted a racket which used to take young women from Kerala to European countries using forged documents after charging them Rs 5 lakh. The fraud practice came to light after a Kurupampady native woman, who was offered a job in Italy, was intercepted at the Frankfurt airport with fake documents. she was deported a few months back. “Of late, the number of people attempting to travel to European countries with fake visas has increased."