Posted on 05/25/2010 4:25:10 PM PDT by STARWISE
Last week's Mangalore air crash in which 158 people were killed has had an unlikely upshot:
It has brought into focus a thriving fake passport racket, known locally as "Kasargod Embassy" in Kerala's northern district.
It now transpires that at least 10 passengers on-board the ill-fated flight may have been travelling on forged documents, which has complicated their identification and insurance claim.
Sources said discrepancies were noticed in the passport details of nine deceased and one survivor, indicating that there might have been something amiss.
Some Malayalee travellers had Tamil Nadu addresses on their passports. Kasargod collector, SP and ADM are now looking into the anomalies and trying to establish the passengers' real identities.
Kasargod Embassy, a term used for skilled forgers who manipulate passports by replacing the photo, first came to light in 1980s and has been thriving due to migrant workers' poverty and ignorance.
"They exploit poor migrants, who are mostly into casual labour. Sometimes sponsors in the Gulf refuse to return passports to the employees while some lose their documents and cannot fly back.
They then approach these passport makers, who give them forged documents for Rs 25,000 to 30,000," said Vargheese Moolan, who heads UAE-based Global Malayalee Foundation. There have also been instances in Saudi Arabia where Haj pilgrims have sold their passports and slipped into the countryside. "These passports also reach the racketeers," said Moolan.
Customs officials recently detained a Kasargod youth, Nissar Panalam, with 31 passports, 15 international driving permits and 12 blank passport pages at Kozhikode airport.
Hundreds of similar arrests have pointed to Kasargod Embassy. "The agents are mostly in the district, but the operations are mainly carried out from the Gulf," said former Kasargod SP Ramdas Pothen. ADGP (intelligence) Siby Mathews said reports have been sent to government and that the racket has long existed.
"Checking them isn't easy as even travel agents and immigration officials are involved," said a official.
~~Ping!
Fake passports, birth certificates, etc. etc. etc.
“How easy it is and has been for those who desire to subvert the law to buy ‘papers.’”
And then slip across the Mexican boarder.
That’s why I personally believe “profiling” is important. You just can’t trust “peppers” anymore.
Fake documents in the third world! Shocking!
Some guy on Tucson radio this AM was bragging as to how he made a lot of money over the last few years selling fake ID's in Mexico and in Arizona. Bragging! He said he was invulnerable due to his "Connections" and a few bucks would always take care of the police. He may have been a nut but in these times its easy to believe.
Very easy .. always has been.
And we wonder how some radicals got
into this country. Even more child’s
play in the computer/technology age.
Amazing. Uneducated third-world people who just want a menial job having to pay for a fake passport. The Mexicans have it so much easier. They just walk across our border, and if anyone dares to ask them for proof of entry, they cry “racism”.
There are probably a lot of jobs in India, considering US corporations have been outsourcing jobs to India for a while now.
Bump.
BTW, here is a tidbit about Indian economy that might improve your 'vast' knowledge:
The unemployed or the employable population in India is 300 million (770 million people are below 35 years of age) but only 45 million have actually registered themselves with the employment offices. Of all the new employment generated, 97 per cent are in the unorganised sector. Only one per cent are taken in new government jobs and two per cent are taken in the organised sector. Even out of our 430 million workforce, 94 per cent work in the unorganised sector, 18 million people work for the central and the state government and another nine million work in the private organised sector. And what a surprise, all the labour laws are made to protect only this 27 million of the Indian population.
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