Aide of suspected Pak spy arrested in Lucknow

He said the two accused were touts,who prepared fake papers including address proof,which were used by Ali,alias Jabbar to obtain the passport and other documents,including a driving licence.

The ADG said the two were being interrogated. A senior police officer in Delhi said the two were caught by a joint team of Delhi Police’s Special Cell and UP’s ATS.

There were reports about a third arrest but police have not confirmed it.

While the seized passport was issued under the name of ‘Syed Amir Ali’,the licence was in the name of ‘S A Ali’,the Delhi Police officer said.

Official sources said investigators are probing whether Arshad had bribed passport and transport department officials to get these documents for Ali.

Ali,who the police says hails from Karachi,was caught while trying to board a flight to Damman in Saudi Arabia allegedly using the fake passport he procured from Lucknow,where he stayed between 2005 and 2006.

Ali was staying in Shahdara area of the national capital in the guise of a man hailing from Lucknow and was working as a technician in a mobile phone repair shop in Mansarovar Park in north-east Delhi.

Investigators have learnt that he entered India through Nepal five years ago and stayed in Lucknow.

After Ali was handed over to Delhi Police’s Special Cell by immigration officials who arrested him,police personnel from the capital had gone to Meerut and Lucknow to investigate how he managed to obtain a fake passport and driving licence.

Investigators also claimed they had seized maps and documents of Delhi Cantonment,Meerut Cantonment and Hindon airbase from him.

The UP police is also conducting a probe into issuance of passport to Ali.

Initial investigations have revealed that the driving licence recovered from him was originally issued in the name of another person,official sources said in Lucknow.

ADG (Law and Order) Brijlal has said it was a “serious lapse” as the address of a person applying for passport was doubly verified by local intelligence unit and the district police authorities.