3 held for selling bogus Covid vaccine certificates in Mumbai

Accused Nadeem Abdul Shaikh and Mohommod Aakib Shakib Shaikh

The Trombay police have arrested three youths for allegedly selling bogus vaccination certificates. Police said the gang was running the racket from a cyber cafe at Chita Camp in Trombay and were charging Rs 1,500 for each certificate. The police also traced the third accused from Uttar Pradesh from where he was issuing certificates. The two accused from the city were responsible for printing them at their cyber cafe.

The accused have been identified as Nadeem Abdul Shaikh, 23, and Mohommod Aakib Shakib Shaikh, 25, and Sauhart Shaikh, 25. The Trombay police said they kept watch on the accused for 15 days after getting a tip-off and caught them red-handed while they were selling vaccination certificates to a customer. According to the police, both Nadeem and Aakib were running the cyber cafe and it's here that they would trick customers into buying the certificates by assuring them that it's from the health department.

Senior Inspector Rehana Shaikh of Trombay police station said, "Last month, we received a tip off about the scam. We kept a close watch on them and their activities, and eventually raided the cyber cafe. They were caught red-handed. We also seized a printer, a computer, four bogus Universal Passes, two fake vaccination certificates and Rs 5,690 cash."

During the investigation, the police learnt that their accomplice in UP is, in fact, the mastermind. "We sent our team to UP and arrested him on Friday. Nadeem and Aakib would send details [of the customers] via emails to him," said investigation officer PSI Babar.

1,500
Amount the accused charged for each certificate