Ahmedabad: Gujarat Police have arrested three fugitive members of a gang of Syrian nationals who allegedly solicited funds from mosques in Gujarat by claiming to aid Gaza war victims, then spent the money lavishly, an official said Sunday.

A group of four Syrians had entered India on tourist visas and violated tourist visa rules, an Ahmedabad crime branch official stated.

One of them, identified as Ali Meghat Al-Azhar, was detained by the crime branch on August 22. His interrogation led to the arrest of three others.

Al-Azhar admitted that the gang approached mosques and requested donations, falsely claiming to support Gaza victims, then squandered the money on luxury, a crime branch release said.

The crime branch had obtained passport details of the absconding trio from Al-Azhar and issued a Look Out Circular (LOC) against them, the release said.

The trio was nabbed at the Delhi Airport a few days ago by immigration authorities when they were about to board a Dubai-bound flight, the release said, adding the trio had planned to flee to Syria from Dubai.

A team from the Ahmedabad crime branch reached the Delhi airport on Saturday and brought the trio, identified as Zakaria Haitham Al-Zaher (34), Ahmed Ohad Alhabash (27), and Yusuf Khalid Al-Zaher (27), to Delhi. They are related to each other.

Police recovered USD 2,985 from the accused.

The investigation revealed that they had arrived in Ahmedabad on August 8 on a tourist visa. They stayed at a mosque in the Shah-E-Alam area of Ahmedabad for nearly two weeks and collected funds from mosques. They also posed as residents of Gaza and claimed they needed money to treat their parents, said the release.

From Ahmedabad, they went to Delhi, where they stayed at a hotel.

Though they had approached several mosques by posing as residents of Gaza and victims of war, not a single mosque in Delhi gave them any funds, said the release.

The crime branch has started the process of blacklisting and deporting the accused for violating visa norms, it said.

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