Mumbai: Three foreign nationals from Nepal, Afghanistan and Bangladesh were arrested between Sept 7 and 13 for allegedly trying to board flights using Indian passports obtained from passport offices using fake documents in Mumbai and Thane after living in the city for years.Nepalese national Jitendra Singh Dangol alias Jitendra Singh (65) was arrested on Sept 13 while allegedly trying to board a Mumbai-Kathmandu flight, Sahar police said. Dangol, who has lived in Malad with his wife since entering India through the border in 1978, obtained an Indian passport through an agent in 2016 and renewed it on April 28.Immigration officials found stamps showing multiple visits to Kathmandu on the passport. Dangol was detained after presenting it during an immigration check at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport before his 5.30pm flight.“We are gathering details of the agent who helped Dangol get the Indian passport. The agent has used PAN, Aadhaar cards belonging to some other person and even showed Dangol’s age lesser by five years,” a Sahar police officer said.Security assistant Shubham Thakur said in the FIR that officials became suspicious because the passport listed Dangol’s birthplace as Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, and his address as Malad West. During questioning, Dangol allegedly disclosed that he was born and educated in Nepal and had entered India via Sonoli border in Gorakhpur.On Sept 11, Sahar police arrested Afghan national Hamdullah Haji Lahoor (37) for allegedly entering India illegally and obtaining a forged Indian passport. Immigration officials detected identity discrepancies during biometric verification. Lahoor entered India on a medical visa in 2020 and later allegedly obtained the passport from Mumbai passport office. He allegedly used it to travel to Kabul in 2024.Bangladeshi national Farjana Khandakar (42) was arrested on Sept 7 while allegedly trying to fly using an Indian passport. Police said she entered India on a tourist visa on March 10-2013 and lived in Mira Bhayander for two-and-a-half years. She allegedly used false personal details to obtain a passport from Thane passport office and travelled abroad several times. Khandakar worked as a beautician in Dubai.
