Mumbai, Nov 2 (PTI) The Mumbai Crime Branch arrested five persons of an interstate gang that allegedly cheated job aspirants by promising them work in foreign countries and collecting money, an official said on Thursday.

As per the complaint of a victim at MRA Marg police station in south Mumbai, the accused had set up placement offices in various parts of the city and had collected passports of aspirants, he said.

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"They promised jobs in Azerbaijan, Oman, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Russia and took Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 from each aspirant as well as their passports. The accused would then send fake appointment letters," he said.

"Victims soon found out these placement offices had shut down and the accused had fled. The probe was handed over to Unit V of the Crime Branch. It was found the gang was operating from Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Bhiwandi near Thane and Andehri in Mumbai," he said.

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A raid in the placement office set up in Andheri led to the arrest of five persons as well as seizure of 63 passports taken from the victims, eight duplicate Azerbaijan visas, computers, mobile phones, printers and documents, the official said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)