Westarctica to Poulvia: How UP man ran fake embassy from Ghaziabad for 7 years

Ghaziabad: A man has been arrested in Ghaziabad for running a fake embassy from a rented house. The accused, Harshvardhan Jain, had turned a home in the upscale Kavi Nagar area into what appeared to be a consulate, complete with national flags of different so-called micronations and luxury cars with fake diplomatic number plates.

The Uttar Pradesh Police raided the house and were shocked to find Rs 44.7 lakh in Indian currency and foreign money worth around Rs 30 lakh. They also seized four luxury vehicles including an Audi and a Mercedes, along with 20 fake VIP number plates meant for diplomats, 12 forged passports, two PAN cards, 34 foreign stamps, 12 expensive watches, a laptop, and several documents.

Jain claimed to be a representative of multiple micronations like Westarctica, Seborga, Ladonia, and an entirely fictitious country called Poulvia. Westarctica claims to be in western Antarctica, Seborga is a small village in Italy that calls itself a principality, Ladonia was declared a nation by an artist in Sweden, and Poulvia does not even exist.

Authorities said that India does not recognise any of these micronations. Police said Jain was using the fake setup to fool people and gain VIP treatment. An investigation is underway to find out how many people he may have cheated using his fake identity and documents.