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Sri Lankan swaps boarding pass with German, officials in UK catch him
Two men have been arrested for an alleged immigration fraud at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport. One had swapped boarding passes with a German passport holder to get on a flight to the UK, where he was later caught and deported back to India. Both have been charged with criminal conspiracy, impersonation, cheating and forgery.
MUMBAI: An alleged immigration fraud was uncovered at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) earlier this week after British Airlines officials in London found a passenger from Mumbai possessing a suspicious British passport but a valid boarding pass.
It turned out that the immigration clearance was done on his behalf by another person, who had swapped boarding passes with him in CSMIA washroom to enable him to enter the United Kingdom. Sahar police have arrested both the people for fraud and forgery on Tuesday.
The incident came to light on Monday when an attendant of the airline noticed that the departure stamp on the British passport of the person identifying himself as Santosh Thangaratnam appeared to be forged.
The departure stamp number on the passport differed from the stamp number on his boarding pass. When officials questioned the person over this, he revealed that he was a Sri Lankan and his real name was Jenarththanan Sasanantham, 22. He was deported to India on Tuesday.
An official from the Sahar police said that the accused told the immigration officers that he wished to go to the UK for better career prospects.
“He had taken the help of a person named Santosh Thangaratnam, who holds a German passport. Thangaratnam cleared immigration and received the boarding pass for the London-bound flight. Sasanantham had another ticket for a Kathmandu-bound flight. They swapped their boarding passes and Sasanantham got the one for the London-bound flight,” said the officer.
The immigration officer handed both the men to Sahar police and registering a complaint against them. The two men told the investigators that they had been staying at a five-star on April 9 and that’s when they hatched this plan wherein, they would swap their boarding passes.
They almost succeeded as they did board the respective flights, but Sasanantham was caught after he reached London, and deported to India on Tuesday. “We are still not clear about how they came in touch with each other in the first place, whether there is an involvement of other people in this and other such aspects of the case,” said the official.
The duo has been booked for criminal conspiracy, impersonation, cheating and forgery. They are both in police custody till April 15, said Dikshitkumar Gedam, DCP Zone 8