A routine security check at the Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport blew the lid off the fake identity of a Bangladeshi man who was found to be living in India for the past 26 years without scrutiny, leading to his arrest. Immigration officials stopped Swapan Kumar Haripada Mandal from boarding a flight to Riyadh on Saturday after noticing anomalies in his passport details, a police officer said on Tuesday. Mandal’s interrogation disclosed that he was using a fake Indian passport.

During immigration checks, authorities discovered multiple forged documents in Mandal’s possession. Investigations showed that he had previously travelled to China and the UAE twice on a fake passport. “Immigration staff noticed that Mandal’s passport was issued in Jeddah. However, his manner of speaking raised suspicions, prompting officials to question him further,” said an official. The accused told officials that he is a Bangladeshi citizen who has been illegally living in India for the past 26 years using forged identity documents.