MUMBAI, Jan 17: A pay-and-walk-away quarantine scam has been unearthed at the Mumbai airport, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA). The scam involved taking Rs 4,000 each from passengers arriving from abroad wanting to skip institutional quarantine that is mandatory.

Three persons have been arrested and Rs 1.4 lakh in cash seized from them. Fake rubber stamps of home quarantine and signed letterheads of doctors of private hospitals were recovered from an employee, Dinesh Gawande, who had been posted by BMC at the airport to check flyers arriving from Dubai, Kuwait and the US since December 23. The other two arrested are Ashraf Sarang and Vivek Singh, employed at a shop in the airport.

The police have recorded the statements of several flyers who paid Rs 4,000 to Gawande. He was arrested after a tip-off from a woman. He reportedly admitted to collecting bribes and sharing the cash with his accomplices, TOI reported.