Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Two foreign nationals convicted

Staff Reporter

Found guilty of forging passports

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Judicial Magistrate S. Soman on Wednesday sentenced two foreign nationals to one-and-half-years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs.10,000 each after they were found guilty of forging passports to travel to London from Thiruvananthapuram on July 2005.

In case of default of payment of the fine amount, the convicts have to undergo simple imprisonment for three more months. The prosecution case was that Saidu Davood Haishimi, 51, an Iran national and Abdul Gafoor, 23, a resident of Afghanistan forged their passports to travel to London via Doha.

However emigration authorities at Doha airport sent them back to Thiruvananthapuram on finding that the passports were forged. They were arrested on arrival by the police.

According to the prosecution, the passport Saidu Davood Haishim used to travel to London was in the name of Fletecher Richard Murry, an African national.

The photograph of the original passport holder was replaced and substituted with a photograph of the convict.

The convict reached Mumbai airport in 1994 using his Iranian passport, where he stayed at various places before attempting to fly to London from Thiruvananthapuram.

However, the judge observed that it was not known why the convict who landed in India with the original passport had arranged a fake passport to travel to London. The judge also noted that the police officials who investigated the case have found no evidence that the convicts have any terrorist links.

The passport used by Abdul Gafoor was in the name of Ahithov Eli, an Israeli national. During investigation it was found that Gafoor arrived in India with a visa obtained from the Indian Embassy of Kabul and resided at various places including Kovalam.

J. Sreekumar, deputy director of prosecution appeared on behalf of the prosecution.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Corporation council approves Rs.7417-crore plan for Central aid
DIC(K) decides to merge with NCP
Coping with memory loss
O.N.V. Kurup honoured
Two foreign nationals convicted
Scheme to provide homes for fisher folk on the anvil
Demand to speed up Vizhinjam project
Campus Notes
Meeting on Sabarimala held
`No Central nod for insurance scheme'
`Kisan Panchayat' tomorrow
Computerised passenger reservation at Kuzhithurai
Survey on lifestyle
Around the City
In Thiruvananthapuram Today

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu