Four Sri Lankan passengers returning from New Delhi after attempting to obtain visas to travel to Poland were arrested at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA).
Immigration officials said the arrests were made on Tuesday (06 January) on suspicion of forged visa documents. Those taken into custody include a 22-year-old married couple from Negombo, a 28-year-old resident of Wellampitiya in Colombo, and a 45-year-old resident of Karavetti in Jaffna.
Investigations revealed that the group had paid Rs. 6.4 million to agents to secure Polish visas through legal means and had visited the Polish Embassy in New Delhi to provide fingerprints.
The passengers arrived at BIA at around 6.00 a.m. yesterday on a SriLankan Airlines flight from New Delhi. However, suspicions were raised during immigration clearance over the visas they presented, prompting officials to refer the documents to the Border Surveillance Unit of the Immigration Department.
Subsequent technical examinations confirmed that the visas were forged. Further inquiries revealed that the passengers were unaware the visas were fake and had been prepared to pay an additional large sum upon their return to Sri Lanka.
The Immigration Department said further investigations are continuing into the incident.
