Malappuram police bust racket behind fake Wafid certificates; Kingpin held from Mumbai

Malappuram: The Malappuram cyber police cracked a network involved in issuing fake 'Wafid' (foreign resident) medical certificates to people moving to Gulf countries. The accused committed the crime after hacking the username and password of a website allocated to a Manjeri-based medical centre here.  The 'Wafid fitness certificate proves a candidate's medical fitness for employment or residency in the GCC countries. The certificates can be obtained through the designated medical centres by appearing in person. However, the scammers hacked the portal and issued fake certificates to the candidates who were believed to be unfit to get a fitness certificate through proper channels.

Malappuram cyber police arrested Nisar Sanger (50) son of Ibrahim from Mumbai after finding him as the kingpin of the racket. Nisar from Mumbai was involved in hacking the website and generating certificates. The team led by District Crime Records Bureau (DCRB) DySP Saju K Abraham and Cyber Police Crime Station Inspector I C Chitharanjan traced Nisar after a detailed investigation.

“We have got a complaint regarding the distribution of fake certificates in the name of a health centre at Manjeri last May.  A special team was formed to investigate the case and we have cracked the largest network span over India and arrested a few involved in it.  The first breakthrough came when we arrested Ajay, who received the fake certificate and agent Naresh, who distributed the certificate to him from Rajasthan.  The second and third persons were agents based in Punjab and Delhi respectively. There are some other key suspects in the case and we are behind them”, Cyber Crime Inspector I C Chitharanjan said.

A Cyber Police team led by SI Abdul Latheef, comprising ASIs Riyas Babu and Aneeshkumar and CPO Dhanoob camped in Mumbai to nab Nisar after receiving crucial information from the accused in custody. They observed his hide-outs for many days before capturing him adventurously.

The scam came to notice when the persons who received the fake certificate failed in the annual medical checkup for renewing the fitness certificate. The health centre received the information and when they cross-checked the data, they found that none had appeared in the centre for the checkup.

“Medically unfit persons approached this network to create fake certificates either to get a job or residency.  There are some more persons involved in the case and many who received the fake certificates are still residing abroad.  The probe is underway to trace them”, Chitharanjan added.

Police have already nabbed seven persons residing abroad with fake certificates. They have issued a lookout notice to arrest the remaining accused in the case.