Surat SOG arrests youth for making visa stickers of various countries, selling them for 10 years

Surat SOG (Special Operations Group) in a joint raid with PCB (Prevention of Crime Branch) nabbed a youth from Surat’s Rander area who had been making duplicate visa stickers of different countries and selling them to visa agents for ₹15,000 to ₹25,000 each for the past 10 years.

According to details obtained from SOG Police Inspector Ashok Chaudhary and PCB PI Rajesh Suvera, the team raided his residence in Rander where accused  Pratik Shah was caught red-handed operating his duplicate visa sticker setup.

During the search, police recovered:

Five visa stickers of different countries

Eight color prints of different countries’ visa stickers

A stamp of the Czech Republic

Papers with hallmarks of Europe, Canada, Macedonia, and Serbia (total 683 sheets of various sizes)

Five mobile phones, a laptop, a printer, and other equipment

The total seizure was worth about ₹1.30 lakh.

Upon interrogation, Shah admitted that agents had been commissioning him to prepare duplicate visas for different countries for the past 10 years. The agents would collect large amounts from people by promising to send them abroad, then approach Shah for fake visa stickers.

He procured hallmark papers of different countries from Chinese websites and apps such as Alibaba.com. Using CorelDRAW software on his laptop, he edited visa formats of various countries and printed duplicate visas on the hallmark paper. These were then couriered to passport agents. For each, he charged between ₹15,000 and ₹25,000.

Police have so far identified several agents who recently got duplicate visas prepared from Shah.

Further investigation in the matter is ongoing.