3 foreigners held, fake passports seized

CHENNAI: A Sri Lankan national was held at the city airport while trying to fly to Dublin via Dubai using a fake passport on Friday.

The Central Crime Branch police have seized the passport, which Rathnagiri Ilavendhan (38) of Sri Lanka had arranged with the help of Raja, an agent, who also hails from the island nation.

This is the third such case in recent weeks in which a Sri Lankan national was arrested. Most of the fake passport cases reported in the city recently were about Sri Lankan Tamils trying to fly to countries like Canada, London, Ireland and France to seek asylum, said police sources.

Meanwhile, reports stated that two Afghan nationals were held at the city airport the same day.

As Daulat Samiullah (26) and Kasib Mohammad (19), residents of Kabul, were trying to fly to Paris via Colombo, using the fake passports on Thursday night, the immigration officials nabbed them.