Man arrested in Barbados with badly forged Israeli passport
The passport had Hebrew printed upside-down and in reverse, making it easy to identify
A Syrian citizen was arrested in Barbados while trying to fly to Germany using a fake Israeli passport, it was reported Tuesday.
The passport itself proved to be a particularly bad forgery full of mistakes, including Hebrew printed upside-down and in reverse, which made it easy for immigration inspectors to identify.
According to the falsified document, the passport was issued in the non-existent city of "Strektram," a distorted version of the Israeli city of Jerusalem in Hebrew.
In addition, “Israel” was miswritten at the top of the passport, denoting that the man's documentation was from "The State of Yischel."
The fake passport also had a border control stamp issued in Israel, despite the fact that the Jewish state has not used passport stamps for several years.
Barbados authorities informed Israel's Population and Immigration Authority about the case, with Israeli authorities saying the man’s documents were "a candidate for the worst forgery of all time."
Eran Zahavi, Deputy Head of the Border Control Administration at the Population and Immigration Authority, said, "the keyword in solving these cases and learning good lessons is fruitful working relationships between authorities from the various countries of the world."
"Every such case that is brought to us only strengthens the knowledge that the Israeli passport is a sought-after and powerful passport in the world."
In 2018, an Iranian couple traveling with fake Israeli passports was arrested in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Their passports contained similar Hebrew typos, including the misspelling of the word "Israel."