2 April 2024 10:13 am Views - 696
The Department of Immigration and Emigration officials stationed at the country’s main airport Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) have made these interceptions from January 01 to March 31 in 2024.
A senior official of the department’s investigation wing told the Daily Mirror that most of the arrested passengers were from the North and East areas of Jaffna, Vavuniya and Batticaloa.
The intercepted passengers have either used forged Sri Lankan passports, forged international visas pasted in the genuine local passports or fake foreign resident visa cards. And their favourite destination has been identified as Italy.
About six arrested persons have tried to leave for Italy, including two females, whilst two others have tried to leave for France and Romania.
The investigations into these cases have revealed that each and every arrested passenger had paid large sums of money ranging from one to three million rupees to various persons to get their forged documents done.
The latest arrest was made on Sunday evening when a middle-aged man from the North had tried to leave for Italy was stopped at the BIA Departure Terminals with a forged Italian visa in his Sri Lankan passport.
The senior official explained that the rising cost of living and the harsh economic situation in the country have prompted most of the intercepted passengers to leave the country for greener pastures.
The Immigration and Emigration Department have handed over all the apprehended passengers to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) Unit at the BIA for further inquiries.