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'Mundi Cut' forger wanted in fake passport scam arrested at Mumbai airport

Updated on: 11 November,2017 07:52 PM IST  |  Mumbai
Pallavi Smart |

The accused has been identified as Abdul Thanapalam, a native of Kerala. According to police sources, the security officials at Mumbai International Airport detained him after they realised he was on the Look Out Circular (LOC)

'Mundi Cut' forger wanted in fake passport scam arrested at Mumbai airport

Sahar police have arrested a 55-year-old man for a crime that he committed eleven years ago.


The accused has been identified as Abdul Thanapalam, a native of Kerala. According to police sources, the security officials at Mumbai International Airport detained him after they realised he was on the Look Out Circular (LOC).


Representational Pic
Representational Pic


Speaking about the arrest, a senior Sahar police officer said, "Late on Monday evening, Abdul reached the city airport to travel to Dubai. It was when he was at the immigration desk that the airport officials ran a check on his identity. They found that Abdul was wanted in a 2006 passport forgery case. He was immediately asked to step aside from the queue and detained by security personnel at the airport, who handed him over to us."

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Apparently, Abdul owns a travel and tourism business in south Mumbai had helped a client, identified as Banrana Mularia, by making a fake passport for him. "Mularia was arrested from the airport in 2006 for travelling on a fake passport. He was travelling to Sharjah. The airport officials realised it was a fake passport when they checked the photo on the ID proof, which didn't match Mularia," the officer added.

While investigating the fake passport racket in the city, cops came across Thanapalam's name. The officer said, "A decade ago, these fake passport manufacturers used a method called 'mundicut' to forge these ID proofs. As part of this process, they sourced lost passports on which they pasted the profile ormundi[head] shot of their client."


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