http://www.gunaah.com/index.htm Dead men flying
By Prashant Shankarnarayan Mumbai, May 12 Imagine?you have lived a major chunk of your life in your motherland. One fine day, you get an opportunity to leave for foreign shores, to earn a livelihood or maybe to simply roam around. You approach the concerned officials to prepare your passport. Therein lies the twist. Say the authorities, that you do not exist in this country. In fact, you have migrated to another nation ages back to earn your daily bread. Shocked! Now read the fact - many Indians have already faced such a situation, especially while travelling to Portugal. The reason behind this human smuggling involves a bit of history, culture and legalities. This phenomenon of sending false candidates abroad to Portugal is rampant in Goa and Daman. An astonishing fact is that, rather than certain Goans, who have the right to stake a claim for Portugese nationality, it is the Gujarati community that has capitalised on the legal loopholes, or can we say opportunities! To start with, let us take a peep into history. On 18th December 1961, the Indian military annexed the then Portugese occupied areas of the Indian Union i.e. Goa, Daman and Diu. According to the Portugese legislation, any citizen of Goa, Daman and Diu, born in these territories before 18 December 1961 can apply for Portugese nationality. The 1975 Portugese National Law also holds that, descendants of those born before 1961, until their third generation, can apply for a valid Portugese passport. This is because Portugese government concluded that, in 1961, Indian citizenship was imposed on the residents of those territories. Hence those nationals should be provided with an opportunity to obtain Portugese citizenship, if they declare their intention and register their births and deaths at Lisbon. Ironically Portugal approves dual citizenship, a concept, which the Indian government does not acknowledge. However, many non-eligible Indians took this rule as an opportunity to gatecrash into Portugal and then other European nations. These illegal entrants take the assistance of various agents or touts. This whole racket has become a flourishing industry in itself, so much so that these touts are advertising their services openly in Goa and Daman. However, the Goa consulate, as well as the Portugese officials prefer to keep mum about these activities. Even though the middlemen have a prominent role to play in such rackets, the role of the embassy and consulate officials cannot be ignored. However, such matters never come to light and this business continue to thrive. Generally these criminals posses the TEORs of the residents of Goa, Daman and Diu. A TEOR is the birth certificate of a person, born during Portugese rule. These agents sold the TEORs to many Gujarat citizens, notable amongst them are the residents of Kheda Jilla, Nadiad, Dholka, Vaso and Anand. It has also been observed that many Gujarat residents migrated to UK with the help of these fake certificates. Another shocking fact is that, these culprits obtained the details of dead Catholic citizens from graveyards and used them to fabricate documents. By the time the average Goa and Daman resident came to know about this scandal, many people had already moved to Europe under false names. This scandal came to light when a certain Mr. Nazim Samsudin complained to the officials. Mr. Samsudin applied for Portugese nationality in the year 1998. He submitted all the required documents and details to the Portugese Consulate at Goa. However, in January 2001, he received a letter from the officials, stating that someone else had already been registered under his name in the year 1986. Soon other citizens too complained of similar incidents and the police took up this matter seriously. However, in the fake certificate of Nazim Samsudin dated 7-3-86, a certain glitch can be spotted. The culprit, who has forged Samsudin?s signature has signed the certificate in Hindi (Devanagari script), but assuming a different name. Had this slip-up been spotted and reported then, maybe this racket could have been nipped in the bud. Many gangsters and terrorists too have followed this route to escape to other countries. Masood Azhar, the Islamic terrorist, who was demanded to be released by the hijackers of an Indian Airlines passenger flight in the year 1999, was in possession of a fake Portugal passport in 1994, when he was arrested in India. Gangster Abu Salem (read box on page 1) too was caught in Portugal. This phenomenon exists in case of non-European nations too. Says Addl. CP, Mr. Parambir Singh, ?A few years back I handled a case wherein a producer was smuggling people to Canada. Even though the main culprit died before we could arrest him, we managed to nab the agent.? The recent Daler Mehndi incident is a glaring example. Though he was acquitted, his brother stays booked for illegally transporting people under the guise of crew members. One can spot illegal immigrants selling wares near Eiffel Tower in Paris. They make a hasty exit as soon as the police arrives. However, the advantage of Portugal is that it is a country that comes under the Schengen zone. If one obtains a Schengen visa, he/she can move around 15 countries within Europe, virtually without border checks. Generally these criminals are nabbed while escaping to the USA or UK. The administration, in this case, is accused of pursuing this fake Portugal passport case at a snail?s pace. In fact, this whole scam is supposed to have been initiated by a Civil Registrar cum Sub Registrar, along with a few agents in the 1980s in order to curb the rights of the citizens. Since then, thousands of fake passports have been issued, thereby leaving average citizens in the lurch. The 'Abu' side of the story The infamous gangster, Abu Salem, has been in the news for some time. Dawood Ibrahim?s aide-de-camp, he is presently lodged in jail in Lisbon. Few years back, he along with his partner, Bollywood actress Monica Bedi, were arrested by the Portugese police, on the grounds that they found certain ?incriminating? documents under his possession. They had entered Portugal with the help of fake Pakistani identities, under the name of Arsalan Mohsin Ali and Sana Malik Kamal. Salem?s first wife, Sameera Jumani, also entered the country on an illegal passport, sporting the name - Rubina Beg. These passports were issued by the Regional Passport Authority, Hyderabad. One point to be stressed is that, the Portugese National Law does not support capital punishment or life sentence. Due to this, the Indian government had a tough time extraditing the accuseds. Presently, a case of misrepresentation of facts and forged passports have been slapped against the duo by the Indian government. This stance has considerably gained the approval of the Portugese government. Monica Bedi is also accused of obtaining a passport under the name of Fauzia Alam, from the passport office, Bhopal. The Lisbon Supreme Court rejected her appeals and she was imprisoned for two years. Presently she has completed her sentence, even though her extradition remains a big question. Meanwhile Abu Salem's activities in Mumbai is supposed to have been crippled by the Mumbai Police. Hailing from Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Salem took to crime like a fish to water. Accused of murdering T-series owner Gulshan Kumar in 1997, his hand was also behind the shootouts of directors Rajiv Rai and Rakesh Roshan, though they survived the murder attempts. He generally hired shooters from Eastern UP. Salem is accused to have played a major role behind the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai in 1993. After his alleged split from the Dawood gang, following a rift with Chhota Shakeel, he set up his own base. Chhota Shakeel allegedly attempted to finish off Salem, but it did not materialise. Mr. Dhananjay Kamalakar, DCP Detection, Mumbai states that, ?Abu Salem's gang does not operate in Mumbai now as the police have succeeded in finishing off his illegal activities in the city.? A Crime Branch officer states that Abu Salem, just like many others, took advantage of the legal loopholes and fled to Portugal. Many criminals flee the country through Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh. They also opt for the sea route. However laws have become stringent and action has been taken to stop this illegal migration. Though Salem's gang is almost dormant in Mumbai, Fahim Machmach, based in Dubai is said to have taken up a major chunk of the operations here. His major activities are extortions and contract killings. He heads a faction of the Chhota Shakeel gang, the ultimate authority being Dawood Ibrahim. Ejaz Lakhdawala, another Dawood aid too is being discussed in police and media circles. Their alleged rivals, Chota Rajan's gang too holds a substantial hold over Mumbai. End of the day, one truth stands clear, that with the existing corruption in the system and loopholes in law, any criminal can move about freely around different countries, without sacrificing his depraved activities. -- Cheers, Gabe Menezes. London, England
