27 March 2023 02:56 pm
Two Bangladeshi nationals who tried to flee to Australia using forged visas and passports have been arrested by a group of immigration department officials at the arrival terminal of Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) this morning.
They were 50 and 24 years old old.
The two suspects arrived at the airport at 5:00 am from Dubai on SriLankan Airlines.
When they presented their documents to the airport immigration counter to enter Sri Lanka, the officer at the counter noticed that the visas in their two passports were illegally removed.
The officer referred the duo to the chief airport immigration officer and he checked the documents submitted by the two Bangladeshis and referred to the officers of the border control unit.
The officers had checked their luggage and found their mobile phones and the photos of the two Australian visas that were pasted on their passports.
Further investigations conducted by the immigration department officers managed to find the two fake visas that had been removed a few moments ago.
In addition to this, the
immigration department officials had also managed to find two electronic visas that had been hidden in their luggage.
The arrest and further investigations were carried out by immigration officials under the instructions and supervision of the chief immigration officer. (Chaturanga Pradeep Samarawickrama and T.K.G. Kapila)