����ֱ��

NEW DELHI: Police in India have arrested a man accused of running a fake embassy from a rented house near New Delhi and duping job seekers out of money with promises of overseas employment.

Harsh Vardhan Jain, 47, was operating an “illegal West Arctic embassy by renting a house” in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, which neigbhours the capital, local police said.

Jain, according to police, claimed to be the ambassador of fictional nations “like West Arctica, Saborga, Poulvia, Lodonia.”

He allegedly used vehicles with fake diplomatic plates and shared doctored photos of himself with Indian leaders to bolster his claims.

“His main activities involved acting as a broker to secure work in foreign countries for companies and private individuals, as well as operating a hawala (money transfer) racket through shell companies,” the police said in a statement following his arrest earlier this week.

He is also accused of money laundering.

During a raid on Jain’s property, police said they recovered $53,500 in cash in addition to doctored passports and forged documents bearing stamps of India’s foreign ministry.

AFP was unable to reach Jain or his representatives for comment.

Westarctica, cited by the police as one of the countries Jain claimed to be representing, is a US-registered nonprofit “dedicated to studying and preserving this vast, magnificent, desolate region” of Western Antarctica.

In a statement, it said it had appointed Jain as its “Honorary Consul to India” after he had made a “generous donation.”

“He was never granted the position or authority of ambassador,” it added.

BOGOTA: Bogota lodged a protest with Ecuador on Friday for deporting a group of Colombian inmates without prior agreement, in what it called a violation of international law and an “unfriendly gesture” by its neighbor.

In a statement, Colombia’s foreign ministry said the Ecuadoran government had “unilaterally” initiated a “deportation process” for Colombian nationals, disregarding “respectful and repeated” requests to first establish a formal protocol.

“Colombia, using diplomatic channels, has expressed its strongest protest to the Government of Ecuador for this unfriendly gesture toward our country,” the statement added.

The ministry did not specify how many prisoners were sent back to Colombia, but denounced that under such conditions, their dignified treatment and the “protection of their rights” could not be guaranteed.

Earlier this week, local media reported that Ecuador planned to expel around 800 Colombians.

Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa announced in 2024 his intention to deport Colombian inmates to ease overcrowding in the country’s prisons. In April, small groups began being transferred to the border.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro opposed the move, saying that a joint plan was needed to safeguard the prisoners’ rights.

The mayor of the border town of Ipiales, Amilcar Pantoja, told the media on Friday that prisoners without pending legal cases in Colombia would be released.

Drug trafficking gangs operating in Ecuador – some involving Colombian criminals – have turned the country into one of the most violent in Latin America.

The homicide rate has jumped from six per 100,000 people in 2018 to 38 in 2024, among the highest in the region.