A 29-year-old travel agent from Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was detained by the IGI Airport Police in a major development for allegedly participating in a fraudulent visa scheme that targeted travellers heading to Europe, according to authorities.

After two passengers, Taranveer Singh and Gagandeep Singh, were arrested at Indira Gandhi International Airport on April 21, the accused, Abhinesh Saxena, was taken into custody.

On their way to Sweden, the two were trying to use fake Schengen permits to get on an aircraft to Rome.

The two travellers admitted after questioning that a Delhi-based agency had organised their travel papers, including the fake visas.

Following the clues given, authorities were able to link the operation to Saxena, who turned over the passports and forged papers to a hotel in Mahipalpur, a neighbourhood in South West Delhi that is well-known for its inexpensive lodging options and is often used by both agents and tourists.

Saxena admitted to being a member of a larger network that specialised in creating fake travel papers for large quantities of money, according to the police.

He acknowledged collaborating closely with another agent, who was only known as Lalli, to set up the fictitious visas and other supporting paperwork.

According to reports, the passengers paid Rs 31 lakh in total for the promised trip to Sweden.

According to police, the arrest has provided insight into a more extensive, well-organised scheme that takes advantage of visa lapses and desperate tourists.

In order to determine if additional travellers may have used similar counterfeit papers supplied by the same network, the authorities are also looking through past travel data.

An agent from Punjab was recently detained by Delhi Police for getting a phoney UK visa for a client in 2022.

In a another instance, an agent was detained by the IGI Airport Police for facilitating a fraudulent Schengen visa for an Indian tourist who was trying to board a flight to the Netherlands.