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Two held in Punjab for using stolen passports

Chandigarh: Two residents of Punjab who were deported from Singapore after they arrived there using passports stolen from the Regional Passport Office (RPO) were on Thursday arrested by the Chandigarh police.

A police spokesman said that the two identified as Sukhwant Singh, a resident of village Bassi in Kapurthala district and Raj Kumar a resident of Kharabgarh village in Patiala district were arrested by the Punjab police on Wednesday on arrival at the Raja Sansi Airport in Amritsar after they were deported from Singapore where they had arrived by travelling on stolen passports.

He said that the local RPO had on October 31, 2006 lodged a complaint alleging that 49 printed passports along with relevant files were found missing from the Passport Office here. Forty-four of the files were later found in the basement without the passport, the complaint said.

Police said that during the course of investigation, the numbers of stolen/missing passports were flashed to all Immigration check posts and Sea Ports for sharp lookout of persons using the stolen passports. The two were brought here from Amritsar and produced in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Atul Marya who has remanded them in police custody till June 9. The two during the sustained interrogation disclosed that a travel agent sent them by procuring visa from the Italy embassy on the two stolen passports after pasting their passport size photos. They travelled on the names of the original applicants, they told the police.

Police said that raids are being conducted to locate the agent who is absconding from his house. — PTI

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Two held in Punjab for using stolen passports

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