This morning (16), an Iranian national was detained at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) in Katunayake for allegedly trying to enter Sri Lanka with an Italian passport that had been stolen.
At 4:25 a.m. today, the 40-year-old Iranian reached the island on Air Arabia aircraft G9-502 from Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
The individual had shown immigration officials his Italian passport upon arrival in order to be granted an on-arrival visa. However, the passport was identified as reported stolen when its details were compared to Interpol’s database of lost and stolen passports.
“Stolen Passport – an Iranian who attempted to use a stolen Italian passport to enter Sri Lanka was expelled”
The National Central Bureau of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) was notified by immigration authorities right away, and they verified that the passport was stolen.
The Iranian individual sought to re-enter the country with his original Iranian passport while the investigations were underway. He had brought this up at another immigration window, but the officials handling his case were made aware of his actions.
The Italian passport was sent to the Border Control Unit of the Immigration Department for further technical checks, which confirmed that the document had been reported stolen. Officials had discovered during the investigation that the Iranian national planned to use Sri Lanka as a transit point on his route to Europe.
Still, the authorities had moved to return him to Sharjah using the same aircraft that had brought him here.
