(COLOMBO) – A group of seven Syrians made up of two families who attempted to leave for Rome in Italy on doctored passports of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was arrested on Thursday by the Immigration and Emigration officers at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), officials said.
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 later proceed from there to Italy.
Under interrogation they stated that they had obtained the passports from a racketeer in Turkey on a payment of US$ 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.
