Two students jailed for forging papers

A court in Dammam has sentenced two Saudi students to one year in prison and SR5,000 fine for forging seals on their certificates, local media said.
The two students had tried to have their certificates attested by the Ministry of Higher Education, but were told that the seal on the certificates were false and, accordingly, referred to an investigative bureau for further action, said a local daily.
The two students told the court that they were enrolled in a US university for distance learning and obtained the certificates following a four-year course of study and wanted to have them approved by the Ministry of Higher Education, the daily said.
The Ministry of Interior said it received information from the Ministry of Higher Education saying that students would routinely forge documents, thinking that the forgery could not be discovered.
The ministry, however, has been able to detect such forms of forgery with the implementation of its electronic system and thanks to paperless transactions as well as online verification of certification.