A Chinese citizen was arrested by the Border Police at Elmas Airport for possession of false identification documents.
The man intended to board a British Airways flight to London and presented a Japanese passport at the counter. However, following an error reading the document using the automated E-gate portal, a "manual" check was performed using the dedicated computer system, which revealed an anomaly in the microchip reading.
Suspicious, the officers carried out more in-depth checks, which revealed that the passport had been counterfeited , as the cover pages and the biometric data page had been printed using different techniques than those used on the original passport.
What also removed any doubts for the officers was the passenger's way of speaking: he didn't know any Japanese words, but he said, in broken English, that he spoke Chinese.
Following the checks, the measures and arrest were taken. The judge then ordered the validation and seizure of the offending passport. At the same time, the non-EU citizen agreed to a plea bargain prison sentence of ten months and twenty days , suspended pending administrative decisions regarding his status in Italy, as the man has applied for international protection.
(Unioneonline)
