Police act against illegal travel agents, raid offices; 4 nabbed

To deter illegal travel agents from misguiding foreign aspirants, the Ludhiana police on Monday conducted raids at offices of several travel agents. They registered five cases against the agents and arrested four of them.

Advertisement

Separate raids were conducted by different police stations in their jurisdictions.

Assistant sub-inspector, Police Division 5, Gurmej Lal, said acting on a tip-off, the police conducted a raid at Garv Holiday Tours near Feroze Gandhi Market and this office was being run by Karan Kumar without having the required licence. During the raid, he was arrested and a case under the Immigration Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was registered against the suspect.

The police also arrested Sukhwinder Singh of Acme Visa Solutions. The suspect opened a sub-branch at Kips Market against the norms, where he was cheating visa aspirants on the pretext of sending them abroad. A case was also registered.

Sub-inspector Bibal Pal Kaur of Police Division 8 said Gautam Handa had opened a office, Holiday Quest, near Bhai Bala Chowk and he was not having any valid licence to run the firm. The suspect had been committing fraud with the people on the pretext of sending them abroad. After registering a case, a raid was being conducted to nab the man.

In another case, investigating officer ASI Sita Ram of the Model Town police station said Jasvir Singh was running SMR immigration office near Ishmeet Chowk without any valid licence. He had been committing fraud with the people on the pretext of sending them abroad. The firm owner was arrested.

Meanwhile, the Model Town police arrested Mandeep Singh Batra, owner of MS Immigration Consultancy, for running the firm’s office without valid licence at Tuition Market. A case was also registered against him on Monday.

During the drive, the police also registered a case against an IELTS and PTE centre for running the same without obtaining a valid licence from the Deputy Commissioner. The owner of the centre is yet to be identified.

Mandi Ahmedgarh: The administration claimed to have launched a coordinated movement to check unauthorised functioning of ‘immigration centres’ under the guise of IELTS centres in the region falling under Malerkotla and Ludhiana districts. Officials from the Police Department and other departments conducted a surprise checking at the centres and other establishments being run from residential premises or other private offices.

“Initially, we have launched a coordinated movement to ensure that all IELTS centres and coaching centres should not undertake any activity related to illegal immigration of youths to any foreign country,” said Ahmedgarh SDM Harbans Singh, maintaining that special teams of designated personnel in civil and police administration had conducted surprise checking on premises of such centres of the region.