CHENNAI: A Sri Lankan woman with two passports was deported ed to Colombo by police and immigration officials at Chennai airport on Tuesday. Officials are also suspecting a larger racket of fake passports at play.The woman, identified as 27-year-old Lishanthi from Negombo in Sri Lanka, was supposed to take a flight to Singapore on October 11 but boarded a Hong Kongbound flight using a forged Canadian passport. She was intercepted in Hong Kong after an alert sounded by Chennai airport officials. She was then brought back to Chennai and deported to Colombo.
On October 11, she arrived at Chennai airport on a connecting flight to Singapore. She completed immigration checks and was supposed to board the Singapore-bound flight, which took off at 2.35am. She, however, did not board the flight and instead took a flight to Hong Kong en route Auckland, where she intended to go to live with her husband. The issue came to light after airline staff at Chennai airport alerted Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel about a missing transit passenger, Lishanthi.
CISF officials verified CCTV footage at the airport and found that Lishanthi did not board the Singaporebound flight. Instead, she took another flight to Hong Kong en route Auckland. Officials verified chart details of the Hong Kong flight and found that a woman passenger named Udaya Malar Sivanesan had boarded it with a Canadian passport.
Following this, Chennai immigration officer Xavier Dhanraj informed his counterparts in Hong Kong. Based on the instructions, officials in Hong Kong nabbed her and deported her her back to Chennai on October 13. After inquiries at Chennai airport, immigration officials sent her back to Colombo.
A probe revealed that Lishanthi had acquired another passport by the name Udaya Malar Sivanesan and had wanted to join her husband Sanjeevan, who was living in Auckland.
She had approached an agent in Sri Lanka to help her reach Auckland. The agent prepared a fake Canadian passport and acquired visas for her travel from Sri Lanka to Singapore via Chennai. He also bought her another flight ticket from from Chennai to Auckland via Hong Kong. Lishanthi paid the apaid the agent ?4 lakh in advance and promised to hand over the remaining amount upon her arrival in Auckland.
Inquiries revealed that a mediator named Sanjiv handed her a Canadian passport along with a flight ticket to Auckland via Hong Kong at Chennai airport.mmigration officials are probing a larger racket involving fake passports and the role of airline staff. Though Lishanthi didn’t possess any fake Indian visa or immigration certificates, police personnel are inquiring about Sanjiv for handing over a fake passport to her. Police have not filed any case but have informed the anti-passport racket unit of the city police.
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