False ambassador representing four non -existent states, arrested in India. The “diplomat” carried a money business
Police Police Photo: Panther Media, Panther Media GmbH / Alamy / Profimedia
Indian police has closed a false embassy that has been operating in the northern state Uttar Pradesh, DPA reports on Thursday, citing the authorities and media in India.
The police descended on the “Embassy” in Ghaziabad, a city in western state, arresting its operator, aged 47. He pretended to represent four “micronnations” – Westarctica, Ladonia, Seborga and Poulo Wai.
The man is accused of taking money from people in exchange for promises to find jobs abroad. He also used the false embassy to transfer money illegally through an informal banking system.
The newspaper India Today called the operation a “Diplomatic Disneyland”.
Westarctica is an unrecognized micronation in Antarctica; Seborga is a village in northern Italy that is considered a principality; Ladonia, from the southern Sweden, declared its independence in 1996 as a refuge for artistic freedom, measures a total area of 1 square kilometer of beach and originates in a legal dispute related to the wood sculptures brought by waters to the shore. Poulo Wai is an invented entity, India Today reported.
The false embassy was set up in a luxury area in Ghaziabad, where the police found four luxury cars with false diplomatic registration numbers.
The officers also confiscated false passports, tax documents and significant cash amounts, both in rupees and foreign currency.
The Indian television station NDTV reported that posts on the general consulate in Westarctica had been circulating a few days before the police intervention. In these, the false ambassador was presented as “Baron HV Jain”, claiming to be the eight -year consul.
