THE Mumbai Crime Branch has busted a racket involved in sending people from Gujarat to the UK on fake passports.

Sleuths had initiated a probe after the detention of a couple headed to UAE at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on February 26.

“Their passports were fake,” said an officer, who identified the couple as Mitaben and Hitesh Patel.

“They were told by the accused that getting a visa for England would be tough because of the Patel surname, so they got fake passports made. The two were charged Rs 15 lakh per passport.”

Officers soon tracked down Manish Ghogri, 36, Amit Agrawal, 41, and Bhavesh Shah, 40, who operated the fake passport racket.

Police recovered 14 passports, 11 Permanent Account Number cards and other documents from the trio, who confessed to sending 15 people from Gujarat to UK using fake passports.