Air travel documents racket comes to light

By T.S. Shankar

CHENNAI, APRIL 18. Close on the heels of the disappearance of three Iranian nationals from Chennai airport who were later traced at London Heathrow airport last week, a fresh racket involving Sri Lankans has surfaced, causing worry to airport security agencies.

The racket involves exchange of travel documents by groups of passengers in mid-flight, often the group members exchanging even the destinations. To top it all, even these documents are suspected to be fake.

Giving details of the novel modus operandi, airport sources told The Hindu today that the racket had taken place on board an Air India flight between Mumbai and Dubai via Chennai.

Sources said two different but similar incidents had taken place last week, wherein passengers who were supposed to land in Chennai travelled to Dubai and those bound for Dubai landed here by ``changing not only the boarding passes during the course of the flight but also fake travel documents.''

It is stated that one passenger who landed in Dubai, even travelled upto Milan and from where he was deported to Dubai. The three Sri Lankans who were detained at Dubai airport have now been deported to Mumbai.

The sources said though these `fraudulent activities' took place on-board an Air India flight originating from Mumbai and on overseas destinations, security agencies in Chennai had not registered any case.

Investigations have revealed that the detained Sri Lankans reportedly bought tickets from a Chennai-based travel agency. The national carrier has been asked to pay a fine of 20,000 Riyals a passenger.

Meanwhile, the case concerning the `missing Iranian nationals' (later traced in London) took a further turn as investigations showed that the three were ``Afghan nationals.'' They purchased tickets from a Mumbai-based travel agency, to travel initially to Muscat-Dubai enroute to Teheran by a Gulf Air flight and then reached London by a British Airways service.

After boarding the London-bound BA flight, the `Afghan nationals' are stated to have destroyed their `Spanish passports' (since Spanish passport holders do not need a UK visa) during the journey time from Chennai to London. They subsequently surrendered to the immigration authorities at Heathrow, seeking `political asylum.'

Upset over the turn of events concerning the three foreign nationals, security agencies are now probing their `mystery mission into India.' After the Kandahar hijack incident, Chennai airport was declared a `hyper sensitive' gateway. Security agencies wonder if the `mystery mission' of the Afghans posing as Iranians could spell similar trouble.

Enquiries reveal that British Airways had been asked to pay a fine of 2,000 a passenger for transporting them from Chennai to London.

In another case concerning security, an 80-year-old passenger, who was immigrating to New Zealand via Singapore by an Air India flight early this morning was detained by the Air India security staff and later arrested under Arms Act and remanded to custody for carrying a revolver inside his checked-in baggage. The weapon was noticed before pre-embarkation formalities. The passenger, Fletcher William Livingston, claimed that he was carrying the weapon `issued to him as a souvenir during World War II.' The arrest was made as the Indian national did not possess any valid documentary evidence to back his claim.

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