Born in Indian refugee camp, Lankan caught trying to travel on fake passport
HE WAS BORN AT MANDAPAM CAMP IN RAMESHWARAM IN 1987. HIS FAMILY WAS SENT BACK TO LANKA IN 2002, BUT HE CAME BACK TO INDIA IN 2014 BY BOAT
NEWDELHI:Born in a refugee camp in India in 1987 and wanting asylum in Finland, a Sri Lankan national has been caught at Delhi airport for trying to travel on an Indian passport.
According to the police, immigration officials had prior input about the passenger and he was stopped for interrogation as he reached the immigration counter.
“The passenger was intercepted at immigration departure wing, when he approached for clearance. He produced an Indian passport, which showed him as a resident of Tamil Nadu. Since we had an input, he was offloaded and during interrogation, he admitted that he is a Sri Lankan national and had arranged an Indian passport by paying money,” said a Delhi Police officer.
He was scheduled to travel to Helsinki via Moscow by Aeroflot airline SU 235.
During interrogation, the passenger told immigration officials that he had got Indian driving license and PAN card by paying ₹1 lakh to an agent in Tamil Nadu. He was supposed to pay ₹5 lakh after getting asylum in Finland.
His agent had arranged a fake meeting invitation letter from a company in Finland, along with flight ticket and visa.
“He was born at Mandapam Sri Lankan refugee camp in Rameshwaram and originally belongs to Mannar Nanatta in Sri Lanka. After the civil war in Sri Lanka in 1983, thousands were displaced. Those living in Mannar, came to Mandapam and Tamil Nadu government placed them in refugee camp. His mother came to the camp in 1987 and in 2002 they were sent back to Sri Lanka,” the officer added.
But he returned to India again in 2014 by boat and started working as an office boy in Chennai. In 2016, he met the agent who arranged his passport.
“He had used the passport to go to Bangkok in April and was not caught at that time. He has given his confession in Tamil and we have details of the agent. The agent will soon be arrested as he might be sending others too to various countries in a similar manner,” the officer said.
A case of cheating has been registered at the airport police station and further investigation is in progress.