The Sahar police on Thursday arrested a citybased chartered accountant, Munuf Mamdani (49), and a tax consultant, for alleged human trafficking. The accused are believed to be part of a racket involved in sending people abroad by declaring them as employees of Mamdani’s bogus firm, Tisco International Leather Company, Malad.
The special branch officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport also arrested their accomplice, Ahmed Sayyed Ghulam Maqbool, who was helping two persons—Ashwinkumar Chaudhari (28) and Sanjaykumar Patel (28)—fly to Spain without the required documents. Chaudhari and Patel hail from Gujarat and were falsely mentioned as sales executives with Mamdani’s company.
“The two were asked to pretend that they were going to Spain to attend a seminar. They were also arrested,” a police officer said. Cops are now on the lookout for nine others involved in the case, including the kingpin, and believe that the racket operates from Gujarat. Of these, two accused—Mausin and Pervez—are residents of Ghatkopar and Bandra.
“Mamdani told us that he had been sending people to Spain and other European countries. He would maintain that he was expanding his business,” said deputy commissioner of police K M M Prasanna. The police seized three personal computers and several documents from Mamdani’s residence in Agripada.
“The investigation showed that the passports and visas used in the human trafficking were genuine but obtained fraudulently. Both the victims had paid at least Rs 3 lakh each to travel to Spain. They were asked to find jobs once they were in Spain,” said senior inspector Dilip Patil of the Sahar police station.
Special cell
In March 2009, JCP (crime) Rakesh Maria formed the human smuggling cell to curb trafficking. Last year, several persons, including airline staffers, passport officers and travel agents, were held in this connection.
Cracking down on `kabootarbazi’
In 2008, the Mumbai police registered at least six major cases of human trafficking or “kabootarbazi” , involving 40 people. The victims were job aspirants, businessmen and even women from wealthy families.
The police nabbed several event organisers in the past for sending people abroad illegally on the pretext of film shoots. The people would pose as cameramen, assistant producers, spot boys and other members of a film crew.
