JEDDAH, 28 July 2005 — Security authorities began to interrogate a wanted Asian suspect yesterday for his involvement in forging passes in order to enter several security areas in the Kingdom. The suspect was also wanted for forging several Asian passports, contract deals, and several letters to prominent people in society.
Preliminary investigation has revealed that the suspect used to forge passports for Asian nationals in the Kingdom and would also fake iqamas for a fee for those who wanted to stay in the Kingdom. The suspect was also believed to have forged several checks.
The authorities caught the suspect after police received information about an Asian in Jeddah who was forging official papers and had used fake stamps in a number of letters with fake signatures from prominent people in the community.
Police discovered that the suspect lived in Bani Malek district. Muhammad Al-Abdali, who works in the Department of Combating Forgery at the Passports Department, was directed to hunt down the suspect.
When police raided the suspect’s residence in one of the district’s poor alleys, they found several forged documents from the Water and Sewage Department, forged passports, and several forged letters from national companies. All of the documents were hidden under the bed and concealed about the house, according to the police.
Police said he concealed his activities by renting more than one house in the district.
Col. Abdullah Al-Aseeri, head of the Department for Combating Forgery in Jeddah, said the authorities watched the suspect for some time to ascertain who his contacts were. He said police were also looking into other unspecified involved parties.
Col. Al-Aseeri added that the department managed to catch several other forgers in the city in the past month who were wanted for forging stamps of courts in Riyadh, Jeddah and Qatif. He also said many people were arrested for forging medical reports — such as HIV reports and other deadly diseases — that declared the holder disease free.
A source told Arab News that officers who raided the suspect’s home in Bani Malek confiscated dozens of forged papers, some of which were passes to the air base issued by the air force, in addition to 44 blank sheets with the letter head of the Water and Sewage Department, drivers’ licenses, Pakistani identification cards, vehicle insurance cards, two Saudi ID cards, contracts, six check books, seven Asian passports, company ID cards with photos and several fake stamps to a number of departments.
