Bangladeshi national arrested at OR Tambo International Airport while attempting to leave SA with fraudulent passport

IOL – 14  May  2022

Pretoria - In an ongoing clampdown on the use of fraudulent South African documents, a Bangladeshi national was arrested while trying to leave the country on Wednesday night via the OR Tambo International Airport with a fraudulent South Africa passport.

“We have traced where this passport was issued and which corrupt home affairs official issued it. The corrupt official who issued it is one of those who are on the radar of the department’s counter corruption branch, hence another arrest is imminent,” said Home Affairs Minister Motsoaledi.

Upon further investigation, the department has uncovered that the Bangladeshi national applied for asylum in December 2015, and his application was rejected “because he is definitely not in need of asylum”.

He has been appealing through the “elaborate” appeals system in South Africa ever since.

Motsoaledi highlighted that the Bangladeshi national was found in possession of a travel permit purportedly issued by the “Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh” recently, in April.

“The significance of this is that an asylum seeker cannot have any document issued by the country of origin because they are supposed to have ran away from there. The department of home affairs is extremely concerned about the abuse of the asylum system of our country.

“We will not tire or be dissuaded from fighting to eliminate corruption in all areas of home affairs, whether perpetrated by a foreign national or a South African. We will continue arresting all of them,” said the minister.

www,samigration.com