Mumbai: The Sahar police have detained 29-year-old Suhail Ahmad for allegedly attempting to travel to Cairo, Egypt, using forged documents. He had allegedly forged the sign-on and sign-off stamps in his seaman’s book. An alert immigration officer detected the forgery and handed him over to the Sahar police. A case was registered on Friday, following which Ahmad was taken into custody.
According to the FIR, on June 12 at 12.15am, Ahmad, a Lucknow resident, arrived at Mumbai International Airport intending to travel to Cairo on flight MS-969, scheduled for 3:00 am. He submitted his passport, boarding pass, discharge certificate-cum-seafarer’s identity document, ship joining letter, and E-migrant letter at the immigration counter for verification.
During the verification, the immigration officer noticed suspicious entries on page 6 of Ahmad’s seaman’s book. This prompted further interrogation by wing in-charges Arun Gopu and Shivam Jaiswal. The investigation revealed that Ahmad was indeed a seaman. In March 2023, he had approached an agent named Miraj Shaikh, a resident of Uttar Pradesh. Shaikh allegedly forged experience records by stamping fake entries in Ahmad’s seaman’s book under the name ‘MT Swarn Jayanti,’ to falsely indicate prior sea service. These falsified credentials were then used to help Ahmad secure employment with a company called ‘Duplic Dynamic.’
The seaman’s book was found to contain a forged sign-on stamp dated July 10, 2023 (Port: Singapore), and a sign-off stamp dated January 21, 2024.
The immigration officer filed a complaint with the Sahar police and handed him over to them. The police registered an FIR against him under Sections 336(2), 336(3) (forgery), 318(4) (cheating), and 340(2) (forged document or electronic record and using it as genuine) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
