4 Iraqi students held over forged passports

New Delhi: Four Iraqi nationals who were allegedly flying with forged French passports were held at the IGI Airport here, police said today.

The accused persons have been identified as Mohammad Ayad Mohammad Ali Al Qaysi (25), Ahmed Ayad Mohammad Ali Al Qaysi (27), Mehdi Ayad Mohammad Ali Al Qaysi (21) and Ramadhan Farhan (19).

Farhan is a relative of the three Qaysi brothers, said a senior police official.

According to the police, they were detained by the immigration staff at the IGIA on Friday, after their passports were found to be forged.

They had arrived in India on October 19 on tourist Visas and had tickets up to Paris via Frankfurt in Germany, where they were to meet their sister.

During interrogation, they disclosed that they are part of an exodus that is taking place in Iraq due to threat they face from terror outfit ISIS. Their sister had already taken refuge in Frankfurt some time ago, they said.

However, these claims are yet to be verified, said the senior official.

All four accused are students from Baghdad.

They claimed to have arranged the forged documents from France in order to avoid any suspicion.

For the same reason, they had also chosen to fly via India instead of heading towards Europe directly, police added.