Mumbai: Man forges son's passport to take another boy to US

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The Sahar police have arrested a man who forged his own son's passport and trafficked another boy to America last year. The arrest came after immigration officials informed the police on Tuesday that they had detained a couple as one of their children's passport had a forged arrival visa. After the two were handed over to the police, their interrogation helped officers to unearth a child trafficking racket.

Salim Ghulam Mustafa, 44, a Bandra resident, was with his wife and two children at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, ready to take a flight to London, when immigration officials raised the alarm.

Modus operandi
A source said Mustafa had taken up an assignment from Sarfuddin Shaikh, 55, an agent from Mumbai Central, of trafficking a boy from Gujarat to America for some quick bucks. As per their plan, with Shaikh's help, Mustafa forged his own son's passport, replacing the name and picture with that of the Gujarat boy's. He posed as his father and took him to the US. After reaching there, he handed over the child to the person concerned and returned to Mumbai, and later, forged an arrival visa on the same passport, to give the impression that the boy too had returned.

A source said that in such cases an agent gets Rs 30-40 lakh per child, with a majority trafficked to America and England. This usually happens when those who don't get visas easily take the illegal route to go abroad. Last October, the Sahar police had busted a similar racket and arrested a man who had allegedly trafficked several children to various countries since 2015.

In custody
While Mustafa was arrested under relevant IPC sections, his wife was given a notice under the Criminal Procedure Code, and she and the children were allowed to return to their home in Bandra.

The Sahar police nabbed Shaikh from Mumbai Central. He has a record of trafficking children to various countries, with a source saying Shaikh has trafficked more than 60 children so far. He had been arrested earlier but had got bail. Both men were produced in court and sent to police custody till April 23.

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