Kingpin an expert in visa process of various nations

HYDERABAD: The gang adopted a peculiar modus operandi in cheating consulates of various foreign countries by tampering with their passports and obtaining visas for foreign travel of their clients. For attending visa interview, the clients were sent with tampered passports and after processing, they would replace the tampered documents from the passport with the original ones and used the same for emigration checks.

The kingpin of the gang Mohd Abdul Rasheeduddin has been in the business for close to a decade and gained expertise in the visa processes of different nations. Once a person who wishes to travel abroad approaches him, he would suggest countries they can travel to and would arrange fake passport and documents required for visa processing.

Out of the 450 clients to whom his gang has provided documents, police suspect that a majority are not from Telangana State. The accused purchased expired passports from original holders for about `5,000 and used the cover and the pages inside to create the fake passports.