Criminals take forged visas to new level

Dubai: An Afghan mother and her three teenage children were on their way to visit the children's father in the UK from Pakistan but were stopped during their transit stop at Dubai International Airport as their UK visa did not exist in the system.

What amazed forensic experts at Dubai Police was that among the many forged currencies, passports, documents, and visas they examine annually, this visa was legitimate in terms of all the security features. It was also not a technical fault, said forensic expert Aqil Al Najar, head of the Questioned Documents Section at the forensic and criminology laboratory at Dubai Police.

"This case is interesting for us because it is the first in terms of how the criminal manipulated the visa to make it look real," he said during an interview.

While questioning the family, the mother, "a victim," was guaranteed by a person in Pakistan that he can quickly get her and her children UK visas for a sum of money.

"If you examine the visa you will find it has a genuine hologram, intaglio-printing, coloured fibre, to name a few. Examining it further the serial numbers on the visa have been manipulated," he said.

Some of the figures have been professionally removed and replaced with other numbers taken from another genuine visa. The other visa could be expired or stolen, he said.

Leaked visas

Globally, copies of blank, genuine visas are leaked and land up in the wrong hands, he said. These visas have the security features in it and the serial number. The only thing that is missing is the person's details and in certain visas the picture of the applicant.

In such cases, when authorities notice that visas have been leaked they send a circulation of the serial numbers. In this case, the criminal manipulated the serial number so that it couldn't be traced, he said while adding that the department has examined seven cases involving visas since the beginning of the year.

According to him, each year they observe precision in forged currencies, documents, and passports but until now, they have not received a forged passport that is not easily detected by a forensic expert. "We don't even need to use our equipment to know if it's forged or not. But it is used for cross-checking," he said.

Based on statistics from the department, they have dealt with over 1,460 cases since the beginning of 2009. Around 484 of these cases involved handwriting comparison to examine a document's authenticity. This also includes examining cheques and cancellation papers for labourers.

According to Al Najar, handwriting and voice comparison analysis are among the most difficult yet least appreciated professions. Samples tend to be dynamic and due to the natural variation it is difficult to examine this field.

Statistics: Forgery cases seen so far this year

- 475 cases related to passports(576 Bangladeshi passports in 46 cases, 157 Indian passports in 140 cases, 77 Pakistani passports in 54 cases, 64 Nigerian passports in 61 cases, 34 Malaysian passports in 11 cases, 32 Cameroonian passports in 14 cases, and 17 Sri Lankan passports in 12 cases.)

- 166 cases related to currencies

- 484 cases requiring handwriting comparison

- 123 cases related to commercial products

- 15 cases related to traveller's cheques

- 51 cases related to credit cards

- 10 cases related to car licenses

- 7 cases related to visas

- 131 cases related to alteration of documents