Mumbai: With the arrest of 12 persons,
police on Tuesday claimed to have busted a racket involved in
preparing fake shipping related certificates that permit crew
members to work on vessels.
First arrest had been made in January second week
after immigration officials caught Binit Sing Panwar, who was
found with a fake Continuous Discharge Certificate (CDC), a
document issued by Shipping Ministry which should be possessed
by every crew member working on a ship, police said.
Panwar was nabbed when he was on board a private
merchant vessel, M V Uniglory, off the city coast, they said.
A case was subsequently registered and during probe
eleven other associated with the racket were held in traps
laid by police over a period of time in the city, Additional
Police Commissioner R K Padmanabhan said.
Most of the gang members were either makers of the
CDCs or agents who used to search for customers in the
metropolis, he said.
"It has been found that people who were not into
shipping business also used to get these CDCs to travel abroad
illegally," he said.
PTI
