Forged passports used for money exchange

DUBAI // A man used four forged passports with fake visa entry stamps to receive money wired to a money exchange, the Criminal Court heard on Sunday.

S A, 36, from Nigeria, allegedly received Dh384,000 from the Al Rostamani Exchange between February 2 and May 29.

He faced 13 charges, including forgery, use of forged documents and fraudulently obtaining money.

Prosecutors said that he used the passports to pose as different people, but he was caught when he failed to answer the employee’s question about which country the money was being transferred from.

“He came with another man and told me that a transfer had arrived in his name then gave me a passport from Guinea,” said M Q, 34, a Sri Lankan employee at Al Rostamani Exchange. “I asked him where the transfer was coming from, he said the USA, but it had come from the Philippines. So I suspected him. But when I started asking him a few more questions he suddenly ran away.”

The defendant and his accomplice left the forged passport but they were arrested minutes later by a police patrol.

Camera recordings from the exchange showed the defendant had visited three times before, where he had received money transfers.

S A denied all charges and the next hearing is on July 2.