By The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has led to a sharp rise in the number of people trying to illegally migrate to other countries.
Immigration authorities have warned people not to be deceived by racketeers who are seeking to profit from their desperation.
In recent months, there have been several cases of people being caught trying to travel with forged travel documents.
In one case, a chef was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for trying to travel to Canada using a forged Canadian visa. He had paid Rs. 4.5 million to a middleman to obtain the forged passport.
In another case, seven people from the Northern Province were arrested at the BIA while they were trying to travel to Italy using forged travel documents. They had also paid a middleman a large sum of money for the documents.
Immigration authorities say that they have detected a number of other methods that are being used for human smuggling attempts.
Some people produce their genuine Sri Lankan passports and travel documents to officers at the immigration counter, but they also have separate, forged passports and travel documents hidden with them, which they will use after disembarking to board flights to their ultimate destinations.
A number of Lankan hvve been sending immigratSri Lankans Using Forged Documents, Other Methods to Illegally Migrat
The economic crisis in Sri Lanka has led to a sharp rise in the number of people trying to illegally migrate to other countries. Immigration authorities have warned people not to be deceived by racketeers who are seeking to profit from their desperation.
In recent months, there have been several cases of people being caught trying to travel with forged travel documents. In one case, a chef was arrested at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) for trying to travel to Canada using a forged Canadian visa. He had paid Rs. 4.5 million to a middleman to obtain the forged passport.
In another case, seven people from the Northern Province were arrested at the BIA while they were trying to travel to Italy using forged travel documents. They had also paid a middleman a large sum of money for the documents.
Immigration authorities say that they have detected a number of other methods that are being used for human smuggling attempts.
Some people produce their genuine Sri Lankan passports and travel documents to officers at the immigration counter, but they also have a separate, forged passport and travel documents hidden with them, which they will use after disembarking to board flights to their ultimate destinations.
Other methods include travelling to other countries in the region from where boats are leaving, or traveling on tourist visas and then overstaying their visas.
Immigration authorities say that they are working closely with foreign missions and other agencies to crack down on illegal migration. They are also urging people not to fall prey to the racketeers who are exploiting their desperations on visit visas.
Other methods include travelling to other countries in the region from where boats are leaving, or traveling on tourist visas and then overstaying their visas.
Immigration authorities say that they are working closely with foreign missions and other agencies to crack down on illegal migration. They are also urging people not to fall prey to the racketeers who are exploiting their desperation
