Father accused of using tampered Swedish passport to enter and exit the UAE

Accused claims at Dubai court that he used his Syrian passport and was only travelling to Sweden to see his sick wife and children.

DUBAI // A Syrian man paid €6,000 for a Swedish passport that he used to enter the UAE, from where he planned to travel to Sweden, the Criminal Court heard on Wednesday.

Syrian R M, 30, is charged with forgery and using forged documents.

Prosecutors said he forged Dubai airport entrance and exit stamps on a genuine Swedish passport that he had altered to show his details before entering the country.

He was arrested on October 31 last year as he tried to leave Dubai for Sweden, where his wife and children live.

Court records state that, with the help of his wife, he paid a relative in the Scandinavian country €6,000 (Dh29,912) to send him a passport in the post.

Prosecutors told the court that the man confessed to the charges during the investigation, saying that his wife was seriously ill and he wanted to be there for her and his children, as well as to escape the civil war in Syria.

In court, R M denied the charges, saying he used his Syrian passport to enter and exit the UAE.

“I didn’t forge any passport nor did I use it,” he said. “I used my Syrian passport, which has a valid residency on it.” The next hearing is on Wednesday.