Dubai: A visitor was sentenced to three months in jail for using a forged Bulgarian passport.
The 23-year-old Palestinian visitor, M.M., is accused of using a forged Bulgarian identification card, passport and exit/entry stamps of Dubai International Airport so he could fly out of the UAE in August. The Dubai Court of First Instance found him guilty despite his claim that he was deceived by an online fraudster who sold him the forged documents.
The accused was quoted telling prosecutors he purchased the Bulgarian passport for €1470 [around Dh6,600] to escape from war-torn Syria and its political crisis.
“A fraudster I met on social media networks duped me and sold me a forged Bulgarian passport,” he said. “I was born in Syria. I came on a visit visa to the UAE and have been renewing it legally and periodically,” said M.M. entering an innocent plea.
Presiding judge Ezzat Abdul Lat said in courtroom three on Thursday: “The forged documents will be confiscated.”
According to the charge sheet, prosecutors said the defendant tampered with the airport’s exit/entry stamps then used the forged Bulgarian documents [ID and passport] and provided them to the Emirates airline staff to check in on the plane.
When asked if he forged the documents, M.M. denied it saying: “I have been in the UAE on a visit visa for two years. I have not committed a crime. I’ve stayed here legally and renewed my visit visa every three months. I hold a Palestinian travel document issued from Syria where I was born. I was duped by that fraudster who sold me the Bulgarian passport and ID and parcelled them to me. I did not know the documents were forged. During my stay here, I could not get a residency stamped.”
Having spent more than 90 days in provisional detention, the defendant is expected to be released soon.
M.M. claimed to prosecutors that due to the political situation and war in Syria and the fact that he was jobless and couldn’t obtain a residency, someone offered to sell him the passport.
“I wired him €1,470 from a money exchange and he sent me the Bulgarian passport and ID by DHL (courier company). I presented my Syrian travel document before the passport control and the Bulgarian documents at the gate to board on the plane,” he claimed.
Thursday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.