Immigration officers on Thursday arrested two girls at Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos with tampered passports.
Due to “an imposed fake identity of the true holder,” the Nigeria Immigration Service’s migration information and data analysis system failed to scan the passports of Adebayo Kazeem and Babalola Kehinde.
They were headed for a Cairo-bound Egypt Airline flight.
A statement by the NIS spokesman DCI Sunday James said, “They were duly subjected to interrogation when caught against their claim of traveling for business as the journey was arranged by a suspect, Muri, whose number was called many times without response.
“He was alleged to be behind the processing of the tampered passports with a man’s picture on the chip when read by the MIDAS scanner; an offence punishable by the Immigration Act 2015 on passport-related offences relating to aiding, identity theft and tampering with a passport.”
The statement further said the NIS Comptroller-General Muhammad Babandede had ordered a thorough investigation into the incident.
It also said Babandede directed that the two passports be withdrawn as evidence and kept in custody until Muri was arrested.
