Mumbai: The number of bogus passports and fake visas caught at the Mumbai international airport has declined over the last two years. In 2011, 440 such cases were detected, which was about 25% less than 2010's tally of 599.
Officers credit the change to the fear that the sophisticated technology at the airport has engendered among criminals. The airport has UV-ray machines connected to computers that are linked to a database of all Indian passports issued. When an immigration official places a passport on the machine, it searches for every alteration. Officials say it can detect photo substitution, page substitution, forged central stitching (fluorescent), lack of arrival or departure stamp, forged visa, and wrong 'protector of emigrants' entries.
Since 1994, over 11,000 forged passports and bogus visas have been caught at the Chhattrapati Shivaji International Airport. In 2007, 610 counterfeit passports and visas were detected and the next year 467.
26/03/12 V Narayan/Times of India
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