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.