The two travel agents, including

The two travel agents, including the owner of Pan Travels in Connaught Place, were arrested on Tuesday night. They have been identified as Rakesh Chopra, the owner, and his employee Sunil Bisht. The 27 people 15 from West Bengal, six from Punjab, four from Haryana and one each from Delhi and Bangladesh were detained at the airport by CISF on Tuesday and later placed under arrest. The Bangladeshi national had an Indian passport with him. "There were masons, electricians and construction workers in the group. From Dubai, they were supposed to go to Iraq where they were promised jobs," said DCP (IGI Airport) Dr O P Mishra.

One of the phone calls to the call centres was traced to Dubai.

The travellers had paid Rs 1-1.5 lakh for their visas to their local contacts in their respective states. They were then asked to approach the Delhi contact who bought the flight tickets in bulk from Pan Travels. "He also arranged for accommodation for the travellers in various parts of the city. Some people had even reached the city a fortnight ago," said police.

Police have also registered separate cases against each of the 27 people under IPC sections of cheating and forgery.

"They were supposed to leave India a fortnight ago but there were problems with their papers. They were assured they would get jobs in Iraq. All 27 of them are from the economically weaker sections of society," said a senior police officer.

Soon after the calls were received, three CISF teams were deployed at the international terminal and airline staff were briefed. "They were allowed to enter the airport but as soon as they approached staff at the airline counters and produced their tickets, they were apprehended," said a senior police officer.

Both Jet and Kingfisher have handed over the recordings of the telephone calls they received to security agencies.

"After the travellers reached Dubai, a travel agent there would have sneaked them into Iraq," said a police officer.

The Kingfisher call centre got a first call around 12pm on Tuesday, and another 30 minutes later saying flight IT-41 from Delhi to Dubai would have passengers on it travelling on forged documents. Jet Airways received a similar call at 3pm. Police suspect the calls were made by staffers of a rival travel agency dealing in fake visas because they had lost out on business. The call to Jet Airways was made from Dubai, with the caller identifying himself as Abhishek.

Both callers were well-versed with how security agencies at the airport function. "The callers said there might be a hijack because they wanted to be certain the travellers would be caught," police sources said.

Said a senior police officer, "Normally, calls like these are made to immigration officials. The callers also alleged that the people responsible for the racket were hand-in-glove with immigration officials."

The cops have ruled out a terror angle.