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TWO men are standing trial for allegedly using Malaysian passports to enter Bahrain and impersonating the real owners of the travel documents.
The Sri Lankans appeared at the High Criminal Court where they admitted to charges of fraud, identity theft and immigration on false grounds.
They were also accused of collaborating with well-meaning public employees to carry out the fraud and knowingly using a genuine document for illicit purposes.
The alleged fraud was discovered by passport control officers at Bahrain International Airport when the defendants were trying to leave the country last month.
“I was handed electronic passports belonging to Malaysian citizens, but suspected that there was a forgery going on,” a border control officer in Departures told prosecutors.
“It appeared that the passports did not belong to the individuals who claimed they belonged to them, but were in fact impersonating them and their personal data,” he added.
A border specialist had been reportedly duped by the duo when they entered Bahrain. He testified to the Public Prosecution about the incident.
“After I made sure that the passports exactly matched the passengers, I stamped them, input the information into the immigration system and allowed the two people entry,” he said.
He noted that there seemed to be no problem at all with the identification, and that the images looked like the passengers who were seeking entry at the airport.
Investigations revealed that the passports belonged to real people who the defendants were allegedly pretending to be.
Photos of the defendants were reportedly affixed onto the genuine document.
The duo admitted to the fraud to prosecutors and to judges at the court hearing.
The trial was adjourned to May 30.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
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