2 persons held with 71 fake Indian passports

Two persons who were planning to send several Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to Germany using fake Indian passports were today arrested and 71 counterfeit passports seized from them at Naripaiyur in Ramanathapuram district, police said.
Cash to the tune of Rs 11.5 lakh was also seized from the duo by the 'Q' Branch Police which nabbed them on a tip-off.
The two had promised 71 refugees that they would be sent to Germany and collected money from them, police said.
They were produced before a court which remanded them to judicial custody.
Instances of trafficking of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees to other countries, including Australia, have been on the rise in the recent past.

Last week, Mangalore police nabbed five persons for alleged human trafficking and rescued 88 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees, who were being illegally sent to Australia, from their clutches.