Man arrested in India because he had a “false embassy”. The “countries” he claimed to represent
Arrested person, photo: Jochen Tack / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia
India police were arrested on a man accused of leaving a fake embassy from a rented house near New Delhi and deceived people who wanted to hire and promised jobs abroad, AFP reports.
47 -year -old Harsh Vardhan Jain operates an “illegal western embassy, renting a house” in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, who borders the capital, said the Local Police.
Jain, according to the police, claimed to be the ambassador of some fictitious countries “West Arctic, Seborga, Poulvia, Lodonia”.
Westarctica, quoted by the police as one of the countries that Jain claimed to represent, is a non-profit organization registered in the US, “dedicated to studying and preserving this vast, magnificent and desolate regions” from Western Antarctica.
In a statement, the organization states that it called Jain “Honor Consul in India” after he made a “generous donation”.
“It has never been granted the function or authority of ambassador,” writes in the respective statement.
According to The Indian Express, at the door he had a golden plate that presented him as “His Excellency Harsh Vardhan Jain, Royale Consigliere, Principao di Seborga” – the royal counselor of Seborga, another unrecognized micronation in the province of Italy. At the balcony and the roof were displayed fake flags, including one with a white cross on the blue field and the other with a crown and a royal shield.
The man is accused of using vehicles with false diplomatic registration numbers and distributed falsified photos with him with Indian leaders, to support his claims.
“His main activities involved acting as an intermediary to provide jobs in foreign countries for companies and natural persons, as well as the operation of a Hawala (money transfer) business through some ghost companies,” the police said in a statement issued after the arrest.
He is also charged with money laundering.
During a search at Jain's property, the police confiscated $ 53,500 in cash, forged passports and forged documents with the stamps of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
AFP said that he failed to get in touch with Jain or his representatives.
