Dubai: Woman tries to fly back home on forged travel document, jailed

A 31-year-old African woman has been sentenced to six months in jail by the Dubai Criminal Court, followed by deportation, for attempting to travel back home with a forged emergency travel document belonging to another woman.

According to the investigation, the woman was caught by a passport officer at Dubai International Airport.

The details of the case date back to October 2021, when the passport officer at Dubai Airport discovered an African woman attempting to depart the country with a document that had been forged.

The passport officer stated that the woman had presented an African travel document and an exit permit issued by the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship to travel to her home country. Upon checking the criminal system, it was found that the photo in the system did not match the photo in the travel document -- resulting in her arrest and hand over to the police.

During the investigation she stated that she had lost her passport and residing in the country illegally, and that she also unable to pay the overstay fine.

A source helped her obtain a passport photo of another African girl, who she impersonated, as per her confession.