Two Tibetan nationals were held at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport this month for allegedly attempting to fly to France using forged Malaysian passports and boarding passes. Immigration authorities were alerted about the two Tibetan nationals and they were apprehended at departure gate 69 on September 2. The duo has been identified as Kunchok Wangdue (39) and Tsering Dolkar (32). The police said forged Malaysian passports bearing their photographs were found in their possession, along with boarding passes for an Air France flight that had the names of two Malaysian nationals. “The accused told us they arrived in Mumbai on August 28 and met a travel agent. They stayed at a hotel near the airport for a few days before arriving at the airport on September 2 with legitimate tickets for an Air India flight for Ahmedabad,” said an officer at Sahar police station. The Tibetan nationals collected their boarding passes for the domestic flight before bypassing immigration and crossing over to the international departure gates where they met an agent named Sonam Yomlu, the police said. According to the police, Yomlu first gave them forged Malaysian passports. “The agent went away and returned with boarding passes for the international flight bearing the names of Malaysian nationals, Jab Hong Hing and How Yen Peng. He then gave them to the accused,” said the officer. They were intercepted before they could board the flight, the police said. Agent Yomlu is yet to be traced. Lata Shirsath, senior inspector, Sahar police station, said the accused were to attend a conference in France. They have been booked for cheating and forgery under the IPC. But advocates Prabhakar Tripathi and Rakesh Singh, who are representing the Tibetans, argued the accused had been fooled by travel agents. “The agents arranged for them to travel to and stay in Mumbai and told them their tickets are in order. In the airport, the agent handed them their boarding passes and disappeared,” said Tripathi. He claimed his clients do not know much English and were unable to read the names printed on the boarding passes. “They explained to the police they were cheated by the agent,” he argued.
