Bangladesh nat'l held for flying with fake passport at Kovai airport

COIMBATORE: A Bangladeshi who flew down to Coimbatore with a fake passport from Sharjah by an Air Arabia flight, was picked up by immigration authorities at Coimbatore International Airport on Monday.

Interestingly, the officials, who grew suspicious of G Anwar Hussain (28) coming to Coimbatore with a passport having a West Bengal address, asked him to sing the national anthem to prove his credentials.

When Anwar couldn’t utter a word from the national anthem, the officials grilled him further to discover that he was a Bangladeshi.

Inquiries revealed that he took the passport by furnishing fake documents from Kolkata in December 2020.

Having been employed in a textile unit in Avinashi in Tirupur district, Anwar had gone to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to work there as a tailor.

As his salary was meager, he flew down to Coimbatore again join some textile unit in Tirupur.

The immigration authorities handed him over to Peelamedu police, who booked him under Sections 14 C of the Foreigners Act and Section 12 (1A) (a) of the Passport Act.