Bhubaneswar: Hoodwinking the police and passport administration here, many Bangladeshi nationals are availing themselves of passports by furnishing fake ID proofs and other documents, a trend that can pose a threat to the internal security of the country.
According to sources, foreign nationals, especially Bangladeshis, find it easier to get their passport applications processed through brokers, who roam around the passport office here. Once issued, the illegal Bangladeshis use their passports to join terror outfits in Iraq and Iran, sources said, adding that the police remain clueless about the treachery of the brokers.
At least 24 Bangladeshis have visited foreign countries with the help of passports obtained through forged documents in the last 18 months. However, some of the passports were cancelled after the illegality involved in the procurement of this vital document came to the fore, the sources added.
The Commissionerate Police has arrested only eight people who had got their passports issued illegally but it is clueless about the 16 others. Lookout circulars against the 16 Bangladeshis have been issued to all the airports to prevent them from fleeing the country. Details of the 16 suspicious elements along with their photographs have been sent to the airports.
Bangladeshi national Sheikh Abdullah, who was arrested in February 2016, had revealed during interrogation that many of his fellows had availed themselves of passports through brokers and moved to Dubai. It is the city state from where such elements fly to Iran and Iraq to join terror groups, Abdullah had told his interrogators.
The Nayapalli police had January 22 last year arrested one Mohammad Basir, the mastermind of the network, and six others in this connection. The police took Basir and his close associate Sheikh Suhag on remand and grilled them. The interrogation revealed that Bangladeshis were coming to Orissa through West Bengal. Since the norms for issuance of passports in West Bengal were tougher, they preferred Orissa for the purpose. Before applying for passports, they prepare fake voter ID cards and other papers.
Though in many cases their addresses were fake, one fails to understand how the local police could not detect this before issuing no-objection certificates (NOCs). At a time when brokers are helping illegal Bangladeshis in obtaining passports in lieu of hefty amounts, the failure of the police to smell a rat has put a question mark on their competency.
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