Passenger in Dubai airport caught with forged COVID-19 test result

Dubai: A man has been accused of forging a COVID-19 test to leave the country through Dubai International Airport.

According to the Dubai Court of First Instance, the 32-year-old Pakistani defendant was caught when he arrived at the airport in December 2020 to travel to his home country. An employee at Dubai International Airport checked the PCR test result and discovered that the document was past the validity period. When it was brought to the attwention of the defendant, he left the airport and came back after 30 minutes with a forged COVID-19 test result.

“I told him that the result had expired and asked him to take a new test. He left and came back after 30 minutes with a valid COVID-19 test result. I checked it and noticed the expiry date (in the earlier document) was changed,” the employee said in official records.

Dubai Police questioned the defendant who claimed that he did the test in Sharjah but he planned to travel after three days. He called his friend who helped him change the expiry date and type the forged test result before heading back to the airport.

Police also arrested the 30-year-old Pakistani friend who admitted to making a copy of the forged document and handing it over to the defendant to travel.

Dubai Public Prosecution charged the two Pakistani defendants with forgery and using a forged document.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 6.