Mumbai: The Sahar police arrested seven men from Gujarat for attempting to travel to Luxembourg using fake Schengen employment visas. The group, detained at Dubai Airport during transit, was deported to Mumbai International Airport on Friday.
They had traveled to Dubai on tourist visas, intending to enter Luxembourg as tourists and seek illegal employment.
According to the FIR, the men—Kaushikkumar Patel, 50, from Gandhinagar; dom while leading an antimilitancy operation in the Haphruda forest of the Kupwara district in Kashmir in 2000. At the cheque distribution ceremony, a recipient’s mother Nilam Sonawane, who accepted the sponsorship for her younger child, sought the alumni association’s help for her elder son Bhushan. The class-8 student has been suffering from cerebral palsy from the age of two years. While his father is a school van driver, his mother is a homemaker, unable to take up any job due to her elder son’s Arthkumar Patel, 25, from Ahmedabad; Maharshi Patel, 21, from Mehsana; Prithvirajgiri Goswami, 23, from Mehsana; Bhargav Joshi, 33, from Mehsana; Krunalkumar Prajapati, 25, from Motera; and Mohammed Jed Husenkhan Pathan, 26, from Mehsana were lured by an agent named Kisan from Gujarat.
The agent provided fake tourist visas, forged Schengen visas, and travel plans to help them settle illegally in Europe. Immigration officer Vishnu Sawant, inspecting arrivals at Mumbai Airport, identified the group after Dubai authorities flagged their visas. Examination under ultraviolet light revealed missing security features, faded colors, and font discrepancies in the documents. Interrogation confirmed the agent had assured them of settling in any of the 29 Schengen countries and finding work without legal permission.
The case was handed over to the Sahar Police Station after the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) was notified. The investigation continues to uncover the extent of the visa fraud network.
