In two cases, the police have arrested seven persons, including two students, on the charge of producing fake RT-PCR test negative certificates at the Talapady border check-post on National Highway 66 for entering Dakshina Kannada from Kerala.
The police gave the names of those arrested on Wednesday as Abdul Tameem (19), Haseen (31), Hadil (25), Ismail (48) and Kabir A.M. (24), all from Kasaragod district in Kerala.
Mohammed Sharif (34) of Padil in Mangaluru and Aboobacker (28) of Kasaragod district in Kerala were arrested on Thursday.
All the seven have been booked under provisions of Indian Penal Code and under the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act.
The check-post at Talapady is among the 17 established on the border to screen those coming from Kerala for RT-PCR test negative certificate not older than 72 hours. The authorities do not insist upon people to produce this certificate in medical emergencies. And, students arriving for examinations are exempted.
A team headed by Police Sub-Inspector Chandrashekaraiah and Health Department official Pradeep on Wednesday found seven persons, including three women, with fake RT-PCR test certificates. The team scanned the QR code and found that the details were different from what was on the certificates that were produced.
The three women, who said that they did not know anything about the fake certificates, were released, while the four were arrested. Based on their information, the police arrested Kabir, owner of a car accessories shop, on the charge of creating the fake RT-PCR test negative certificates.
On Thursday, a team headed by Police Sub-Inspector Shivakumar and Social Welfare Department officer Nitin found Sharif, a tiles businessman, and Aboobacker, a Saudi Arabia returnee, with the fake RT-PCR test certificates.
Police Commissioner N. Shashi Kumar told reporters on Thursday that the city police are yet to trace the person from whom Sharif and Aboobacker procured the certificates.
14,421 persons got COVID-19 despite vaccination
The police are investigating whether there is any link between the fake certificate creators and the agencies that are carrying out the swab test on the borders. Mr. Kumar said that he has shared information about the fake RT-PCR certificates with his counterparts in Kerala Police.
