Four Sri Lankans arrested at BIA with forged Polish visas

Four Sri Lankans returning from New Delhi, India, after traveling to obtain visas required to migrate to Poland, have been arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), with fraudulently prepared visas.

The suspects were arrested by Immigration and Emigration Department officers early this morning (06), according to reports.

Those arrested include a 22-year-old married couple from Negombo, a 28-year-old man from Wellampitiya and a 45-year-old man from Jaffna.

Reports reveal that the individuals had paid Rs. 6.4 million to brokers to obtain visas to legally travel to Poland. Accordingly, they had traveled to the Polish Embassy in New Delhi, where they had provided fingerprints as part of the visa process.

Subsequently, they arrived at the BIA at around 6.00 a.m. today on a SriLankan Airlines flight from New Delhi.

During immigration clearance, officials became suspicious of the visas presented by the passengers and referred the documents to the Border Surveillance Unit of the Immigration and Emigration Department. Technical examinations confirmed that the visas were forged and fraudulently prepared documents.

Investigations further revealed that the passengers were unaware that the visas were fake and that they were prepared to pay an additional large sum of money after returning to Sri Lanka.

Further investigations into the incident are currently being carried out by the Department of Immigration and Emigration.