Eight individuals were detained by Mumbai police at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport when they were being unlawfully transported to London on false pretences of being students participating in an exchange programme, according to an official.
The official claimed the suspects were charged with human trafficking, with seven of them pretending to be students at a private university in Haryana and one pretending to be a professor.
He added that early on March 11, they were apprehended at the airport's immigration gate.
He claimed that to get visas to the UK, the defendants provided false information and used fake documents.
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According to the official, the accused were going to London via Jeddah, and their agent had illegally facilitated their immigration by demanding Rs 20 lakh from each of them.
At first, Bureau of Immigration officials discovered that two of them were using UK visitation visas to fly to London, he added.
When questioned, the travelers claimed to be taking part in a student exchange program run by a private university in Hisar with their professor, the official added.
They were taken away for more interrogation, he added, since they were unable to offer information on the university they were going to.
The offender, who pretended to be a professor, told the authorities that he and seven other people were going to London at the Haryana University's request, according to the official.
He stated that he was sending the passengers to London at his direction after meeting them at a Delhi hotel with an agent known as Bittu.
According to the officer, the passengers informed the immigration officials that the agent had promised to assist them in obtaining UK immigration and had asked Rs 20 lakh from each of them.
Additionally, he said that the agency obtained visas for the travellers by presenting the UK Embassy with falsified documentation.
The eight accused, he claimed, were sent over to the Sahar Police for additional investigation.
Section 143 (trafficking), section 336(2) (forgery), and other pertinent provisions of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita and Passport Act have been used to register a case against the accused, the officer stated.
The investigation has been taken up by the crime branch, he said.
The Mumbai Police had previously apprehended a man who had used fake passports and visas to send more than 80 people to Canada, Turkey, the Netherlands, and Poland, therefore breaking up a human trafficking ring.