Mumbai: Sahar Police have arrested a 23-year-old man who arrived at the airport to board a flight to the U.S. using fake documents. The arrested person is identified as Lance Boniface Coutinho (23). A police officer from Sahar Police Station stated that the accused was deported from the U.S. to India a few months ago. To return to the U.S., he had obtained various fake documents through an agent and arrived at Mumbai Airport to travel.
According to senior Sahar Police officials, immigration officer Kailash Goyal (37) is the complainant in the case. On the evening of November 4th, around 8 PM, Goyal was on duty at the airport when the accused arrived for immigration clearance. Suspicious of his documents during the check, Goyal presented him to his senior officer.
Details Revealed During The Investigation
Upon questioning, the accused revealed that U.S. immigration had deported him, declaring him inadmissible as a non-citizen, and he had returned to Mumbai on an Air India flight. When the immigration officers examined all his documents, they confirmed the deportation due to non-citizen inadmissibility.
Further, when immigration officials asked about his Indian citizenship, ship joining letter, and e-migrate letter, he could not provide satisfactory answers. The officers then contacted the shipping company through email, with which the accused claimed to be employed. However, they also confirmed having no connection with him. This exposed that all his documents were fake.
After the revelation, the accused admitted that he had obtained all the fake documents through an agent. The immigration authorities then handed him over to Sahar Police. Sahar Police have registered a case against the accused under Sections 340(2), 336(3), 336(2), and 318(4) of the BNS Act and are continuing further investigation, said police.