KANPUR, June 11 -- Exposing an extensive forgery network that supplied counterfeit marksheets, degrees and other academic certificates across India and overseas, the Kanpur police have arrested four men, officials said on Wednesday. The nexus operating from a printing unit in Kanpur's Becongunj area was producing fake educational certificates for Rs 10,000 apiece and sending them as far as Britain and Canada, police said. The breakthrough came during a wider investigation launched after police dismantled a fake degree nexus in March this year. Kanpur's deputy commissioner of police (Central) Atul Srivastava said the accused not only printed forged documents but also created fake university verification websites to help pass off the certificates as genuine. Police arrested Ziaul Hasan alias Sameer, Nooruddin, Hasan Asif and Aamir Ahmad on Tuesday after tracing financial links from suspects held earlier in the case. Officials alleged that Hasan, a BBA graduate skilled in graphic design, specialised in replicating university documents ranging from high school marksheets to PhD degrees. During questioning, the accused allegedly told police that PDF versions of forged certificates were emailed to associates in Canada and the UK, according to the police. Those associates printed the documents on specialised paper and delivered them to customers locally. Within India, completed certificates were dispatched through courier services. Police said records obtained from a courier company suggest documents connected to the network had been shipped since at least 2014. Officials said the group offered customers a guarantee that the documents would withstand verification. They allegedly created websites resembling those of legitimate universities and used them to demonstrate fake verification checks. The Becongunj operation came to light during an investigation into a fake degree racket uncovered earlier this year in Kidwai Nagar. Examination of bank accounts linked to previously arrested suspects led police to the printing facility. Officers said transactions worth more than Rs 40 lakh were traced to Hasan's accounts, while over Rs 1 crore passed through accounts linked to Aamir Ahmad. Police seized two laptops, desktop computers, printers, 141 institutional seals, monograms, 830 sheets used in certificate production and 62 forged marksheets and degrees purportedly belonging to eight universities. Police are now examining links stretching from Kanpur to Hyderabad, Noida and overseas locations, including Britain....