Kingpin roped in Jet airhostess at his Bandra boutique

Mumbai: Body Oomph!, a garage boutique in Bandra, is otherwise another upmarket outlet where young women go to shop for imported apparel. Except, according to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch, investigation in the immigration racket involving a Jet Airways airhostess, Aliah Sayyed Abbas Ali Rizvi (24), has revealed that she, and possibly others, were first zeroed in at the boutique in Bandra by its owner and other accused to fraudulently help obtain visas to the US.
The shop is owned by Yusuf Akram Baig, who is now in custody of the Crime Branch, along with Aliah and three others. They were arrested on November 26. Sunny, the manager at Body Oomph!, confirmed that Yusuf is the owner.
“The boutique is frequented by staffers from several airlines. They often go there to buy or even, at times, sell some foreign-made cosmetics, which they would bring from places they had traveled to. This is where Aliah was also approached by the conspirators,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Rakesh Maria.
“We suspect this is the place where many other airline staffers could have also been approached,” he said.
Besides illegal immigration to the US, the Crime Branch has recently busted another racket — so far unrelated to the first — involving illegal immigration to the UK. But now, said Maria, “our investigations point to some more similar operations like the ones already unravelled.”
Today, Jet Airways confirmed to The Indian Express that Aliah was working as an airhostess for the airline adding that her services have been terminated after her name cropped up in the Crime Branch investigation.
06/12/07 Smita Nair, Sagnik Chowdhury & Menaka Rao/Indian Express

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Categories: Airports Dec 2007, Jet Airways Dec 2007