Man jailed in Dubai over fake passport scam

Pakistani was trying to use a fake Moroccan passport with a fake Brazilian visa to start a new life in Rio de Janeiro but he handed over his Pakistani passport at Dubai airport by mistake.

DUBAI // A man who bought a forged Moroccan passport with fake visa for Brazil made a mess of trying to board a flight to Rio de Janeiro when he handed over his own passport by mistake.

M M, 28, was jailed for three months at Dubai Criminal Court on Monday after being arrested at Dubai International Airport on October 21 last year.

He mistakenly handed over his original Pakistani passport to officials instead of the fake passport he planned to use to find work in Brazil.

M M told prosecutors that he met a man at a travel company in Pakistan who offered to provide him with the forgery in return for 700,000 Pakistani Rupees (Dh24,700). The passport was handed to him at Terminal 3.

However, when he was boarding the plane, MM mistakenly handed over his Pakistani passport, which did not have a Brazilian visa. He was then taken to the airport’s passport control officers and questioned.

Prosecutors said he then confessed to having a forged passport in his possession.

“The passport had fake entry and exit stamps into and out of Dubai as well, and when we asked him how he got it, he said a man gave it to him at the airport,” testified passport control officer RM.

MM was convicted of forging an official document, to which he confessed last month in court.

He will be deported after the completion of his sentence.