One more arrested in visa fraud case

A year after a four-member gang defrauded over 100 job aspirants and went into hiding with close to Rs 1.5 crore from the city, the city police on Saturday arrested the third member of the gang from Pattambi. The arrested has been identified as Saidali alias visa Mani,35. Earlier, two persons were arrested in connection with the case.


Saidali had been hiding at various places in Bangalore and Hyderabad for the past one year. A team led by Fort AC Radhakrishnan Nair arrested Saidali. The police team tracked him down by following the signals of his mobile phone which revealed his location at Pattambi.  Saidali  was running a travel agency in Bangalore by the name of Omega when the police arrested him.  The police also recovered passports and photos of many job aspirants from his possession.


Police said Saidali along with his three friends had been running a travel agency named Trivandrum Air travels and tours at Dharmalayam road near Thampanoor.


Police said that he had cheated about 450 job aspirants. The gang would issue newspaper advertisements offering job vacancies in Malaysia,Dubai and Kuwait. To win over the trust of applicants, they would also give a mobile phone number and e-mail address in Dubai.  The applicants would be told that they could secure job if they contacted on the phone number or e-mail ID.


A police official said that Saidali would  be questioned to reveal the details of the bank accounts as the money the gang had swindled had been deposited in different bank accounts. Police said the fourth member of the gang is also likely to be arrested soon.