Forged visas leave visitors stranded at airport

An Iranian Dnata superviser, his brother and an Egyptian shop owner forged two visit visas and conned a Bangladeshi for Dh4,000, made his two relatives come to the UAE and stay at Sharjah International Airport for two days, the Dubai Criminal Court heard.

The supervisor AIG, 26, and his brother MIG, 28, and SNA, 35, Egyptian shop owner, are accused of forging two visit visas. AIG and MIG are accused of conning Abu Al Khair Ali for Dh4,000 by issuing him forged copies of visas for his niece and brother-in-law.

Abu Al Khair, 33, a Bangladeshi porter at Dubai International Airport, testified that Dnata supervisor AIG offered him visit visas for people wanting to come to the UAE. Five months later, he told him that two of his relatives were interested in coming to UAE. AIG told him that each visa will cost him Dh2,000. He agreed and handed MIG photocopies of passports of his two relatives and Dh2,000 -- half the amount of the total demanded by AIG.
“A few days later he handed me a photocopy of the visa in the name of my niece. Then he handed me a photocopy of my brother-in-law’s visa and I gave him the rest of the amount. He told me that the originals of the visas are with the sponsor and told me that I can buy air tickets against the photocopies.

“I bought two air tickets on Air Arabia for Dh2,200. At noon on November 26, 2009 my two relatives arrived at Sharjah International airport, so I called AIG and asked him for the original visas.  He said that he will call the sponsor but instead he switched off his mobile until 10pm when he called me and asked me to meet him the next day at 9am at Baniyas Square. AIG came along with MIG who was driving the car. They asked me to get into their car, telling me that the sponsor’s shop is nearby. We went around in their car for about three hours. At around noon, they took me to a restaurant for lunch and then asked me to go to the airport. They said they will reach the airport at around 4pm with the original copies of the visas,” he testified.

The two accused did not come and their mobiles were switched off. At around 10pm AIG answered his mobile phone and asked the victim to meet him again at Baniyas Square and so he did. They roamed around as on the previous day and then AIG asked the victim to go to the airport and that he would follow him with the visas. He went to the airport and as AIG did not come, he had to book his relatives’ return tickets and pay Dh600 as price difference in air tickets.

“On the following day, I met AIG at work at Dubai International Airport and told him that I had to send back my relatives. So he paid me back Dh1,000 in two installments, insisting that the original visas are with the sponsor. As he failed to give them to me for two months, I notified the police,” the victim testified.

The victim told the police that he trusted AIG as he had worked with him for about six years. Checking the photocopies of the visas, police found out that they were forged. AIG confessed to police of taking money from the victim for issuing visit visas for the victim’s relatives but as he had heard that the country had stopped issuing visas to people of the victim’s nationality, his brother tried to help him to obtain the visas through AS, an emirati owner of a tourist company he knew, testified sergeant Abdul Aziz Khalifa.

The accused confessed that he got a photocopy of a valid visa from the tourist company and asked the owner of an internet café to forge the copies which he did against Dh20. SNA confessed to knowing the two brothers as they were regular visitors to his cafe but denied forging the visas.

“MIG came to the shop and asked for printing the photocopy of a visa in his email which I did. He then asked me to scan the copy and send it to another email and then I did that. He paid Dh10 out of Dh18 and left the shop,” he testified.

Mohammed Abdullah, 37, Jordanian, director of the tourist company sponsored by AS, testified that the  company dealt with MIG for issuing visas to Tanzanians on the request of AS. In the second attempt, MIG asked for issuing visas to two Bangladeshis. “Asking AS about that, he told me not to serve them, so we did not. MIG tried several times and mentioned the name of AS, but we did not issue him the visas. I have no idea how they got an original copy of the visa,” he testified adding that AS knew the two brothers from the airport.

The prosecution did not file any accusation against AS, according to court records.
 

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