Surat farmer arrested for using fake Portuguese passport

Surat: A 49-year-old farmer from Surat was booked and arrested by Dumas police after he was deported from Thailand.Bhavesh Borad, the accused, had travelled to Portugal on his Indian passport and procured a fake Portuguese passport under another name. He had used that passport to enter India several times in the past three years but was caught when he travelled to Thailand on Tuesday. He was arrested for forgery and impersonation under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Passport Act. According to police, Borad, who is from Amreli and lives in Surat, flew to Thailand from Surat on March 2. He entered Thailand using a Portuguese passport bearing his photo but the fake name "Bamania Kalpeskumar Ratilal". Thai immigration authorities flagged him for carrying too little money and not having a hotel booking. On checking his fingerprints, they found that "Bamania" had earlier travelled as Bhavesh Borad, after which he was deported. On returning to Surat airport, Indian immigration officers questioned him and uncovered the forgery. Borad told police that he had gone to Portugal in 2019 on a one-month Schengen visa as a tourist, stayed even after the visa expired and settled in Lisbon, where he worked on a farm. There, a man named Ashok helped him obtain a fake Portuguese passport bearing his photograph but the false name. Using that passport, he got an Indian visa and travelled to Mumbai and Surat several times. His attempt to enter Thailand with insufficient funds exposed the forgery. A Surat airport immigration officer filed a complaint and Dumas police arrested him.