12 September 2024 01:45 pm Views - 1821
By T.K.G. Kapila
A group of seven Syrians in two families who attempted to fly to Rome in Italy on forged passports of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was arrested last morning by the Immigration and Emigration officers at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).
The suspects included three elders and four children who attempted to board an Indian Airlines flight. The Immigration officials checked their travel documents on suspicion to find that they were in possession of forged passports.
Investigations revealed that they had arrived from Malaysia and planned to fly to India and to proceed from there to Italy.
Under interrogation they stated that they had obtained the passports from a racketeer in Turkey on a payment of USD 2,000 each.
Officials said the passports had been forged using advanced technology including Electronic Gates to avoid detection through fool-proof scanning tests.
They were handed over to the CID for further investigations.