Arrested for possessing 48 passports to create fake visa documents

A former office assistant of the Department of Immigration and Emigration, who was in possession of 48 passports belonging to others for a fraudulent scheme to obtain foreign visas, has been arrested by the Navagamuwa Police. The arrested individual is a 70-year-old man.

During the raid, a 'Blizzard cash technology' type detector machine used to check watermarks on passports and banknotes, and a smartphone were also taken into police custody from the suspect's possession.

Police Constable (101998) of the Divisional Intelligence Unit attached to Navagamuwa Police received information that a person was preparing fraudulent documents to obtain fake visas through embassies from a house located on Ranmal Mawatha, Ihala Bomiriya, Kaduwela. This arrest was made during a raid based on that information.

During interrogations of the arrested suspect, it was revealed that he had worked as an office assistant at the Department of Immigration and Emigration for about five years. The suspect, who later worked at a foreign employment agency located in Battaramulla, stated that he obtained the relevant passports during his time working at that agency.

The suspect carried out this racket to make it appear to embassies that individuals seeking to travel abroad on tourist visas had previously traveled to other countries. For this, he meticulously removed visa stickers from old passports and affixed them to new passports, charging Rs. 20,000 from each person for this service.

Police investigations revealed that visa stickers from about 15 of the seized passports had already been removed. The suspect is scheduled to be produced before the Kaduwela Magistrate's Court.