Iranian man arrested with fake passport

Iranian man arrested with fake passport

Wahyoe Boediwardhana, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Denpasar Police foiled an attempt by an Iranian citizen,
identified as RA, to leave the country on a fake passport, a
police officer said on Monday.

Denpasar Police chief Sr. Comr. Dewa Parsana said that the
police had apprehended three others involved in the crime. They
are thought to be members of a international people-trafficking
syndicate.

Police have identified them only as RA, 35, ER, 30, and RM,
36, -- all said to be Iranians -- and WE, a 35-year-old
Indonesian. Two others, A and HS, are thought to live in Bangkok
and are being traced by Interpol.

Denpasar Police crimes unit chief Comr. Faisal Tayeb said that
RA was traveling on a fake passport that appeared to have been
issued by the French government.

RA, claiming to be a former soldier in the Gulf War who was a
victim of chemical warfare, planned to go to New Zealand.

"He said he wants to get medical treatment in New Zealand
because it is free there," Faisal said.

He said RA flew out of Teheran on July 10 for Bangkok, where
he stayed for 20 days before heading overland to Kuala Lumpur,
Johor, Singapore and then Batam before arriving in Jakarta on
Aug. 1.

Before arriving in Jakarta, with the help of A and RHS in
Bangkok, he obtained a fake passport for between US$800 and
$1,000. He received the passport while in Kuala Lumpur.

When in Jakarta, he stayed for a month with RM, who claimed to
live in a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees's
shelter. There he was introduced to ER, a translator. RM and ER
then contacted WE, who arranged air tickets for RA.

As planned, RA was to fly from Jakarta to Denpasar on Aug. 23
and leave for Auckland the same night on a Garuda flight.

"But in the meantime we received news (of his fake passport)
from Jakarta so when the suspect was about to check in with the
fake passport at Ngurah Rai, the staff were prepared. We
apprehended him and in his bag we found a passport issued by the
Islamic Republic of Iran," Faisal said.

RA was immediately interrogated with ER and WE, who
accompanied him. On Saturday, the police apprehended RM in
Jakarta, while two other suspects are being tracked down by
Interpol.

Faisal said that the suspect violated Article 263 of the
Criminal Code on fake documents and could face six years in
prison if found guilty by a court of law.