It was quite a field day for immigration officials at the airport here on Monday evening, as they pulled out what seemed like 24 valid visas to Europe and the middle east out of a Sri Lankan national’s vest.
Their suspicions were aroused by Mohammed Nizar’s (36) behaviour when they were clearing passengers who were about to board a Jet Airways flight to Colombo. When they accosted him, Nizar was more than willing to have his baggage searched, but turned hostile when asked to submit to a body search.
Eventually, officers found that he had a pouch, with a sheaf of papers inside, concealed inside his vest. “All of these were valid visa papers for countries in Europe and the UAE. He didn’t have any extra passports, but these visa papers were made out to different names. When we looked closer, we found that they were very good imitations,” said an official.
Meanwhile, the officials also pulled up four Nepalese women who were booked to travel on the same flight.
Maya, Mala, Tara and Kumari, all aged between 21 and 25 years, were very nervous when Nizar was hauled up. When asked them if they knew him, they categorically denied it, as did Nizar. “We had a suspicion that they were being taken to Lanka to be trafficked,” said an official. Eventually, the women admitted that they had agreed to accompany Nizar to Lanka as he had promised them jobs as household helps.
A police official said, “As all their papers checked out, we asked them if they still wanted to fly and they opted to leave. The women left and Nizar was arrested and remanded to custody.”
TASMAC Shop Looted
Burglars decamped with Monday’s collection from a TASMAC shop in the city after drilling a hole on the wall of the outlet, on Tuesday. The shop on Paper Mills Road in Sembium was closed around 10 pm after salesmen counted the day’s collection of about `1.28 lakh and left the amount in the cash box. Heavy rain on Monday perhaps muffled the noise of drilling. A case has been registered.
Held for Selling Porn
A 42-year-old employee of a mobile phone recharge shop at Red Hills here was arrested on Tuesday, for allegedly providing porn videos to customers. Police said they acted on a tip-off and sent a decoy to Anand (42) of PD Murthy Nagar, Padianallur. The decoy pretended to get porn videos on his mobile phone. Anand was nabbed when he offered to download porn movies on a mobile phone.
Red Sanders Seized
Police seized 30 tonnes of red sanders worth `1.5 crore from a godown near Gummidipoondi and arrested its owner on Tuesday. They raided the godown located in Sanaputhur village and seized the red sanders that was camouflaged with plantain leaves, coconuts and grass. They arrested the godown owner Srinivasan and are investigating the source of the wood.