An Iranian couple carrying fake Israeli passports were arrested in India’s Chennai Airport on Thursday, local media reported Saturday.
The two, 25 and 35 years old, were arrested while trying to board a flight to London after arriving in Chennai from Goa, where local police says they obtained the fake passports.
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The couple, who had just arrived at the airport after a domestic flight from Goa, were detained by immigration officials before they could board a British Airways flight to London.
“They had original Iranian passports, but they also had Israeli passports, which resulted in their detention in the airport, ” airport police said.
Preliminary investigation found that the woman lived in Pune in the past ten years, while the man was working in Goa at the time. After they got married, the couple planned to move to the United States.
The two apparently decided to forge Israeli passports under the belief they would prove more useful than Iranian papers in receiving work visas from the US. The passports were forged in Goa, police said.
Officials at the airport police told media in India that the two plotted to use fake Israeli passports because they are easy to enter the US with them.
There has been no indication the Iranian couple was involved in terrorist activities.
