Immigration officials at the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) caught a man from Punjab who had allegedly travelled to Malaysia last March on a tourist visa and overstayed to work as a labourer.
The accused, Manpreet Singh, 24, was caught on Thursday after he landed at KIA from Malaysia with a forged immigration seal from the New Delhi airport.
Manpreet was caught when immigration officer Ravi Shankar verified the travel documents for immigration check and found discrepancies in the arrival and departure seal stamped in the passport.
A detailed questioning led Manpreet to reportedly confess that he had gone to Malaysia on a tourist visa in March 2018 and with the help of his agent, identified as Sajid Ali, overstayed for a year. Manpreet said he had paid Sajid ₹50,000 to get him a job as a labourer in Malaysia, according to officials.
However, he faced many hardships during his stay there and eventually decided to return. After repeated requests, Sajid forged his passport with a fake arrival and departure seal of Delhi immigration officials and helped him board the flight to Bengaluru, officials said.
On the rise
Immigration officials said incidents of fake immigration seals being used are on the rise. Last week, officials caught three Bangladeshi nationals who were set to fly to Malaysia with valid Indian passports and other documents.
