Trial of Bahraini man begins in fake passport case

26-yr-old man’s final destination was Turkey to join IS

DT News Network

Manama

The trial of a man, who was caught for attempting to travel to Oman using a fake passport, got underway yesterday before the High Criminal Court yesterday. The court documents revealed that the defendant was trying to flee to Turkey to join the Islamic State (IS) in Syria. 

The 26-year-old reportedly manipulated his appearance to fit the picture attached with the passport in an effort to mislead the Customs officers. However, he was apprehended after officers recognised the facial differences between his face and the image of the person in the document. 

The Public Prosecution had initially said in a statement that the suspect was attempting to travel to Oman. But during interrogation, it was revealed that his final destination was Turkey to seek political asylum. He resorted to this trick to leave Bahrain as he was on the Kingdom's travel ban list, according to court documents.  

He was in possession of the passport because he deceived a man by offering him a fake fully paid trip to Mecca to perform Umrah. 

"The owner of the passport revealed during interrogation that he wasn't aware of the intention of the suspect," the Public Prosecution said in a statement. "The defendant booked two tickets, one to Oman and the other one to Turkey as he was trying to join an outlawed group.” 

 The defendant was arrested at the Bahrain International Airport on April 20 this year. 

His trial was adjourned until September 13 for review and to hear the closing arguments.