Customs officials at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Tuesday stopped a couple from India from entering the nation due to suspected counterfeit passports.
The Border Affairs Corps yesterday said that the couple was found in possession of fraudulent Singaporean passports and Canadian electronic travel authorizations.
Customs officials found the two loitering in the airport after they deplaned and approached them to ask if they required assistance.
Photo: CNA, provided by the National Immigration Agency’s Border Affairs Corps
The couple reportedly said they were newlyweds who had come to Taiwan for their honeymoon.
However, customs officials who inspected their documents, said they suspected their Singaporean passports were fake, at which point the couple presented their Indian passports.
The man said that his wife wanted to move to Canada after they got married, the Border Affairs Corps said, but the application process for a Canadian visa in India is time-consuming and has a low approval rate.
The couple allegedly bought two Singapore passports, identification cards, a driver’s license and electronic travel authorizations from a smuggler for about NT$1.2 million (US$39,824.77).
They had allegedly traveled in and out of several Southeast Asian countries with the counterfeit passports without being detected until their attempt to enter Taiwan.
The Border Affairs Corps arranged for the couple to be returned to their last country of exit.
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