Mumbai Police arrested two people, a Sri Lankan and a German national for allegedly exchanging their boarding passes at the airport so as to travel to London and Kathmandu respectively, an official informed on Thursday.
Officials said that the incident had taken place at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai on Monday. A 22-year-old Sri Lankan citizen and a 36-year-old German native were involved in the incident.
They had reportedly exchanged their boarding passes in a toilet at the airport for travelling to London and Kathmandu, informed the official. In addition, it was found that the passport on which the Sri Lankan was travelling was a fake.
The incident came to the fore when an attendant of an airline company noticed that the departure stamp on the passport of the Sri Lankan citizen looked like it was a forged one, the official said.
Moreover, the departure stamp number on the passport was found to be different from the stamp number on the boarding pass, he added. By the time Sri Lankan national was caught, he had already reached the UK. However, he revealed his original identity after he realized that he had been caught, and was deported to Mumbai on Tuesday, informed the police.
During the enquiry, he told the police that he wanted to go to the UK for a better career opportunity, the official further informed. Meanwhile, the police also detained the German citizen who had the Kathmandu-bound boarding pass, the official said.
He mentioned that during their questioning, it came to the fore that the two had stayed in a plush hotel near the Mumbai airport on April 9 when they hatched the plan together to swap their boarding passes.
He also said that the Sahar police booked the two under sections for cheating, forgery and criminal conspiracy. The police are also investigating if more people are involved in the crime, added the official.
