Passport Racket

Militants net passports from southern towns
Don Sebastian / DNA

Thiruvananthapuram: Shameer Alikutty is a porter in Perumbavoor near Kochi. Going by the stamps in his passport, the 36-year-old is a globetrotter.

Shameer was in for a shock when the police appeared with his passport, which he had pledged for Rs800, five years ago. It had travelled around the world, until security agencies recovered it from a hotel room in Kish Island, Iran. The current holder of the passport, a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative based in the UAE, gave his trackers the slip though.

Kerala police have also found that the passport was used as identification proof to get a mobile phone connection by Thadiyantavide Nazeer, a Lashkar-e-Taiba honcho suspected to be in charge of the outfit's operations in south India. There are reports that Nazeer, wanted in a slew of cases in Kerala, was arrested from a madrasa in Chittagong, Bangladesh last week.

Nazeer, a co-founder of Indian Mujahiddeen, is supposed to be the kingpin of a racket which recruits mercenaries from Kerala and Karnataka for LeT. In January, the police chargesheeted 22 youths, including four youths killed by security forces in Kupwara last year, on sedition charges. Though the Hyderabad police had nabbed Sainuddeen alias Sathar, suspected to have links with Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad blasts, Nazeer remained elusive.

Nazeer is also accused of conspiring to assassinate former chief minister EK Nayanar and burning a Tamil Nadu state transport bus near Kochi to protest Abdul Nasser Madhani's imprisonment.

Investigating agencies suspect that Nazeer's racket is involved in creating logistical support for the militants. They procure passports from unsuspecting citizens and use it as a cover for militant movement and communication. The porter's passport, for instance was obtained through his relative, for a paltry Rs800. Nazeer might have handed over Shameer's passport to Ayub, who left it behind in a hotel room in Kish Island.


See, it is so easy to obtain passports for the terrorists.
They will get it by hook or by crook, mostly by crook.
However, if genuine peace loving citizens want a passport they are harassed.
My wife and daughter had applied for a passport in June,2009.
Now, almost 5 months have passed and they are yet to receive their passports.
They have been born in India.
They are married to Indian citizens who themselves are passport holders.
They have children who are Indian passport holders and yet the police have not been able to complete the formalities by which they would get their passports, probably because I do not agree to pay any bribes.
I am giving below the letters which has been sent to the RPO, Kolkata, first on the 2nd November and then on the 24th November, with no reaction from them.
A similar letter was sent with reminders by my daughter-in-law, Shalini, with the same void result.


"24.11.2009

Dr. R Sivakumar, IPS.,
RPO,
4, Brabourne Road,
Kolkata – 700001

Reminder: 1

Dear Sir,

File Ref.Number: A04027309

I am a housewife.

I had submitted an application for an Indian Passport on 02.06.2009.

I was born in Kolkata in 1956 and did my schooling in Kolkata although I could not pass my higher secondary owing to personal reasons hence I do not have any school leaving certificate.

Since in those days, parents were not very particular of birth certificates, I do not have one.

However, I have submitted a affidavit with my application.

The status report "Police Report is incomplete and the case is being examined " has been there for the last two months.

How long do the police require to complete the report?

My husband has an Indian passport (No H4485191).

My son will soon be going abroad and I may have to go also. Hence the need for a passport

I would request you to issue me a passport as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,


Manju Sharma
188, Bangur Avenue,
B-Block,
Kolkata - 700055