2 Bangladeshis held with fake passports in Lucknow

Lucknow, Sept 12: Two Bangladeshi nationals were arrested at the Lucknow airport when they tried to board a flight to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on fake Indian passports, officials said Thursday.

The two were arrested from the Amausi airport in the Uttar Pradesh capital by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) when they were at the immigration counter Wednesday.

Officials told IANS that the two Bangladeshis -- whose names were given as Sabu and Mohammad Shuza -- were about to board a morning flight to Jeddah and had fulfilled all pre-flight formalities.

But CISF officials had some doubts about the authenticity of the passports they were carrying.

They were immediately detained and interrogated at the airport. The two Bangladeshis cracked under pressure and admitted that the passports were fake.

They were arrested and handed over to police. The duo told police that their real names were Abrar and Sohanlal and they were residents of Bangladesh.

A few months back, they crossed over to India via Kolkata and then came to Lucknow. They also told police that a tout, after charging a hefty amount, got them the passports.

IANS