Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): The Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) arrested an Afghan national from Madhya Pradesh's Jabalpur. Police said he had been living in India illegally for the last 10 years.
The accused has been arrested as Sohbat Khan, son of Badruddin Khan. He was residing in Jabalpur’s Chhoti Omti area. According to information, he married a local woman in Jabalpur and then divorced her. He then forged his passport, changing the nationality to 'Indian' to extend his stay in India. He even received a driving license using forged documents.
Investigation revealed that Khan was in contact with some agents to arrange fake passports for other Afghan fellows.
Notably, several Afghan nationals migrated to West Bengal and Chhattisgarh after the Taliban occupied Afghanistan in 2021.
According to information, the ATS exposed at least 20 such Afghan passports from these two states. Two such holders have been identified as Iqbal and Akbar from West Bengal. Police suspect their links with a terrorist organisation.
'Agents' who helped in acquiring forged passports arrested
Police also arrested two people who helped illegal migrants with forged passports.
The other two arrested 'agents' have been identified as Dinesh Garg and Mahendra Kumar. Dinesh works with the Municipal Corporation election cell. The duo, using their contacts, would arrange forged documents for the illegal migrants in exchange for money. They would replace the West Bengal address with a local address online.
