Kolkata, Oct 31 : Three Afghan citizens, who were residing in Kolkata for some time with fake Indian identity documents, have been arrested, the city police informed on Friday.

Based on a complaint registered by the Security Control Organisation, the cops arrested the three Afghan citizens identified as Jalat Khan, Abdullah Khan, and Saheb Khan on Thursday, a city police official said.

All of them were presented at a lower court in Kolkata on Thursday, and the court remanded them to police custody till November 6.

It is learnt that all three of them came to Kolkata with valid Indian visas some time back. But they did not go back to Afghanistan after the term of their visa to stay in India expired. 'Instead, they arranged fake Indian identity documents for them, like an Aadhaar card, an EPIC card, and a PAN card. All three of them came to Kolkata at different times, with Jalat Khan being the latest to come to the city in 2019,' a city police official said.

The police are currently interrogating the trio to squeeze information from them on what prompted them to stay back in Kolkata even after the expiry of their visa terms. The investigating officials are also trying to find out from them about the persons who arranged fake Indian identity documents for them.

Earlier this year, the officials of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested a Pakistani national, Azad Mullick, from a rented accommodation in the northern outskirts of Kolkata. Mullick, originally a Pakistani citizen, first acquired fake Bangladeshi identity documents to assume a Bangladeshi identity. He then used forged Indian documents to become an Indian citizen, after which he began running hawala operations and the fake passport racket from his rented accommodation in Kolkata.

Earlier this month, ED officials also arrested Mullick's close associate Indu Bhusan Halder, who was one of the key technical operators in the fake passports syndicate. ED officials are trying to trace the whereabouts of seven suspected Pakistani nationals who allegedly obtained fake Indian passports through the same racket.

/IANS