Amid the long queues innocent people duped by bogus agents

As thousands flock to get their passports from the Immigration and Emigration Department, scammers and corrupt officials, have begun exploiting hapless people desperate to get out of the queues that last for days.

The Sunday Times spoke to one 22-yearold passport applicant who wished to remain anonymous.

“The security guard told me she could expedite the process if I wanted her to,” he said. She had followed the statement up with a request that he “check and see how much he was willing to pay for it.”

A trend of travel agents coming into the queues and paying people to let them jump the queues was also noted.

“We received complaints of this too,” said Department spokesperson Piyumee Bandara. The department also reprimanded imposters and handed them over to the Police on allegations of giving out “fake seals” on documentation for exorbitant amounts. Ms. Bandara also said allegations had been made against Army and Police officers who were there for security.

“They are supposed to be there to maintain order but we have received reports that they are also accomplices in the scams going on,” she said.

The Army denied their officers' involvement in the racket. Army media spokesman Nilantha Premaratne said the incident that arose had been in relation to an imposter that was impersonating Army officers at the premises.

"Officers wear their safari kit at the premises and it is similar to the Ministerial Security Division (MSD) uniform," he said.

Impostors dressed in similar outfits dupe thousands of rupees out of exhausted people and take them up to the fourth floor where they proceed to mislead and then abandon them at various locations in the building. An arrest was made earlier this month after officials perused closed circuit television camera (CCTV) footage and identified people engaged in the racket.

Another concern raised by people in the queue was that they were duped by agents who sought money to draft the documents and then disappeared.

“I paid one of these people Rs. 8000 because he said he was an agent and he can get my documents sorted out fast,” said a 47-year-old person from Pitigala. The "agent" had then simply disappeared.

“There are so many bogus agents duping people out of money because of how desperate most of them are to get their documentation approved in time to get to appointments abroad,” said Association of Licenced Foreign Employment Agencies (ALFEA) Secretary M. Arshad. He advised people against trusting agents without valid licences, especially if they merely turn up at the passport office offering their services.