Dubai: A visitor accused of forging travel documents claimed in court on Monday that a man he met on a social media network sold him a passport.
Prosecutors accused the 23-year-old Palestinian man of forging a Bulgarian identification card and passport and exit/entry stamps of Dubai International Airport so he could fly out of the UAE in August.
Pleading not guilty, the defendant told the Dubai Court of First Instance: “I was born in Syria. I came on a visit visa to the UAE and have been renewing it legally and periodically. A fraudster I met on a social media network duped me and sold me a forged Bulgarian passport. I purchased it to travel.”
Prosecution records cited the defendant alleging that he purchased the Bulgarian passport for €1,470 (around Dh6,600) to escape from war-torn Syria.
Prosecutors charged the defendant with tampering with airport exit/entry stamps and using the forged Bulgarian documents (ID and passport) and providing them to Emirates Airlines staff during check-in.
“Did you forge the stamps and documents and use them?” presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat asked the defendant.
“Sir, I have been living in the UAE on a visit visa for two years. I have not committed a crime. I’ve renewed my visit visa every three months. I hold a Palestinian travel document issued from Syria where I was born. I was duped by a fraudster who sold me the Bulgarian passport and ID and couriered them to me. I did not know that the documents were forged. During my stay here, I could not get a residency stamped,” the defendant said.
The defendant told the court that he “spent 90 consecutive days in custody”.
The defendant had told prosecutors that “due to the political situation in Syria and the fact that I could not find a job and obtain residency in the UAE”, he accepted the offer to buy the passport. “I wired him €1,470 from a money exchange house and he sent me the Bulgarian passport and ID by DHL. I presented my Syrian travel document at passport control and the Bulgarian documents at the boarding gate.”
A ruling will be heard next month.
