Colombo, July 10 (Daily Mirror) - A Sri Lankan national who tried to leave the country for Austria with a Malaysian passport, which he had obtained by paying Rs.9 million to a scammer, was nabbed by the Immigration and Emigration Department officials at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).
 
In two different cases, two males from Jaffna who had tried to emigrate from the country with forged travel documents were apprehended by the authorities at the immigration counters. 
 
A senior immigration official told the Daily Mirror that a passenger who had obtained a boarding pass from an airline checking counter was taken in for questioning for his suspicious behaviour.
 
When inquired, the passenger had produced a Malaysian passport to the officer but the latter had noticed that it was not him who was in the passport’s photograph. The officials have also found a Sri Lankan passport and a disembarkation rubber stamp from his belongings, when they searched the passenger. 
  
The passenger, who is a resident of Tellippalai, Jaffna had tried to leave for Vienna in Austria on an Air India flight AI 282. 
 
When questioned at length, the passenger had disclosed that he was provided with the Malaysian passport by a travel agent outside the airport for Rs.9 million, out of which he had paid Rs.3 million and had agreed to pay the balance after completing his journey, the sources said.
 
Meanwhile, another passenger who had tried to leave for Malpensa in Italy on the same airline last morning had been referred to the immigration officials by the airline staff as his travel documents looked suspicious.
 
The Immigration Department’s Border Surveillance Unit (BSU) found that the Sri Lankan passport in his possession was a forged one.
 
The authorities conducted the inquiries on the instructions of Controller General Immigration and Emigration Harsha Illukpitiya and Controller Investigation and Operations M.G.V. Kariyawasam.
 
Both passengers have been handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) unit at the BIA for further inquiries.