New Delhi: A person running a fake embassy outside a rented house in Ghaziabad has been arrested by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Uttar Pradesh Police.A senior official said on Wednesday that the accused, Harsh Vardan Jain, was pretending to be a diplomat from a made country called “West Arctica”.Jain, a resident of Kavi Nagar in Ghaziabad, was caught on Tuesday. According to preliminary investigation by STF’s Noida unit, he was cheating people and companies by promising job placements abroad. He is also suspected of joining a hawala racket through fake shell companies.To make himself real, Jain used digital edited photographs with top Indian leaders such as the Prime Minister and the President. This helped them to gain people’s confidence.“After the standard operating process, the pilots informed the authorities and returned the aircraft to the Gulf,” the airline said.Additional Director General of Police Amitabh Yash said, “The accused was running a fake embassy from a rented house and introduced himself as a consul or ambassador of non-existent countries like West Archtika, Suborga, Paulvia and Lodonia.”Jain also used cars with fake diplomatic number plates to look more authentic. During interrogation, it was revealed that he had ties in the past with controversial Godman Chandraswamy and international arms dealer Adnan Khashogi. He was earlier booked in 2011 to illegally hold a satellite phone.
STF found and seized:
- Four vehicles with fake diplomatic number plate
- 12 forged diplomatic passports from fake micronation
- Fake documents with seal ministry of external affair
- Two fake PAN cards
- 34 rubber stamps of different countries and organizations
- Two fake press cards
- 44.7 lakh rupees cash
- Foreign currency
- Papers related to shell companies
- 18 fake diplomatic plates
An FIR has been registered at Kavi Nagar Police Station. Officials said more investigations are going on to highlight the complete scale of the scam.
