In a world where it is increasingly believed that mostly everything can be faked, still being told of a fake embassy is met with inherent disbelief. Embassy is a state institution and somebody might even think of faking it, is beyond the realm of imagination and crime. Our existence is facing a “serious churning for a variety of reasons and so has been the case in crime itself. Recently, a fake embassy was busted, which was operating out of a luxurious double-storeyed house in Ghaziabad, NCR. The property was set up to look like a legitimate diplomatic mission.
The property had high end cars parked outside it bearing fake diplomatic number plates and offices displayed forged documents – some with the insignia of India’s Ministry of External Affairs. He also used diplomatic paraphernalia such as “diplomatic passports” and seals from 12 micronations and stamps from 34 countries. The mastermind is Harshvardhan Jain, who posed as the ‘Baron’ or ambassador of the self-declared micronation of “Westarctica.” as well as other fictional entities like Saborga, Poulvia and Lodonia.
The so-called Westarctica “Consulate-General in New-Delhi” claimed to have been operational since 2017. How did it remain undetected for such a long time? Baffling or just the normative truth of how our agencies operate? Was there no red flag when you see an embassy in Ghaziabad? An embassy in a place where it was not supposed to be. Additionally, it supposedly belonged to a nation which most of us have never heard of, and that too did not raise any suspicion. Coming to the fake number plates, no traffic police has not taken any action. Do the police have a database of CD number plates? Did they have knowledge of it or they have just allowed it to happen? It can be a case of monumental indifference.
The three policing layers, one of the local police and then of the intelligence, unfortunately did not deliver anything for 8 long years. Not knowing of a Fake Embassy for whatever reasons is not acceptable. Then what is happening right under their nose they are not aware of, is unacceptable by any policing standards. Moving further, what was the state intelligence doing? They were not able to report on the Fake Embassy for over 8 years. What do we tell about the central intelligence, who are mandated to report information of this nature, which might be missed by local or the state police, having been professionally trained in this expertise and professional / actionable intelligence being their core practice.
MULTI – AGENCY FAILURE OF THIS NATURE, MANIFESTS THE SUPERFICIAL LEVEL OF POLICING AND GOVERNANCE.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.