A 29-year-old Iranian national who had attempted to board a flight to Doha allegedly with a forged Danish passport, was detained at the emigration wing here on Friday.
Officials said the person, identified as Beger Nijad Munnawar Gilani, was arrested for travelling on a passport in the name of one Anderson Peter Hernik of Denmark, forged with a photo substitution. According to official sources, preliminary investigations showed that Gilani was on his way to Canada seeking political asylum. He landed in Kochi from Hyderabad on Thursday and had handed over his Iranian passport to a passport agent in exchange for the new one.
Gilani had come to India in November 2010 and joined the Osmania University in Hyderabad to pursue a postgraduate degree programme in English. He reportedly bought the passport with a visa-on-arrival status in Europe from his Turkish friend Ali Raza by paying around 6,000 dollars.
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He was handed over to the local police for interrogation.