A 28-year-old Ludhiana-based businessman was arrested at the airport on Tuesday for tampering with his passport.

Gursharan Singh, who owns a garment shop in Chandigarh, told police that he wanted to settle down in Singapore and had paid an immigration broker Rs 70,000 for getting him a visa. The broker took away Singh’s passport and returned it with a Singapore visa pasted on a page.

The visa was issued in the name of another person and contained his photograph. Singh told the broker that he would not accept it and asked for a refund. The broker allegedly promised to provide Singh a Singapore visa in Bangkok and erased the visa stamped in the passport. The trader later obtained a Thai visa.

Singh arrived at the Calcutta airport’s international terminal on Monday night to take the Thai Airways flight to Bangkok. He was stopped at the immigration counter and detained for interrogation.

“The page where the visa was stamped and rubbed off was tampered with and so Singh was arrested,” said Basab Talukdar, the deputy commissioner (security control) and foreigners’ regional registration officer. Singh was accompanied by his friend Iqbal Singh, who allegedly paid about Rs 10,000 to the broker for a South Korean visa. “The Korean visa was genuine and so the passenger was allowed to go,” said Talukdar.

“Ludhiana police has been informed about the broker. An investigation is being conducted on how the brokers are acquiring visas,” said a police officer.