Great forgery, shame about the spelling

A MAN has been jailed for eight months for owning a false passport perfect in every respect… except the spelling.

When Nicosia CID arrested Fazal Ur Rehman from Pakistan at his home last October 10, Rehman insisted he was Saood Khan, the name on the false Afghan passport he was carrying.

“The passports looked perfect and were professionally made,” arresting officer Constable Solon Nicolaou told the court. “They were almost deemed original by forensics, until we came to the third page of some of the passports, where the photographs were.
“Some of the stamps read ‘menistry’ instead of ministry and ‘goverment’ instead of government.

“The ink used for the stamps also looked slightly faint compared to the original stamps,” said Nicolaou.

Police had launched the investigation after a tip-off that there were false passports at Rehman’s house in Ayios Dhometios.

The defendant later recanted his initial testimony and admitted to the crime.

Addressing the court yesterday, Rehman begged Judge Angelos David to show leniency, saying he was deeply sorry for what he had done. He also asked the judge to deport him back to his country.

But the judge ruled that the crime was severe enough to warrant an eight-month custodial sentence because.

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