Duo Jailed Over Air Ticket Swapping Plot

The District Court has jailed a Canadian man to 22 months and a Sri Lankan man for 18 months over a ticket swapping plot at the airport.

Immigration officials said on Friday they had received intelligence that a Canadian man, suspected of involving in human trafficking activities, was travelling to Taipei via Hong Kong from Bangkok.

Investigators said what was more suspicious, beside the stop over for such a short flight, was the fact that the Canadian also was coming with a Hong Kong-Bangkok return ticket.

Assistant principal immigration officer Au-yeung Chi-wai said after the man landed in Hong Kong in May last year, he never checked-in for his Taipei flight. But using another ticket, the Canadian checked in for a flight to Paris.

The man was then tracked going to a toilet area where he handed over the Paris flight boarding pass to a Sri Lankan.

The two were later arrested.

Au-yeung said they seized a fake French passport from the Sri Lankan bearing his photo but with the name of the Canadian man.

The two men were given the sentences after pleading guilty at the District Court for conspiracy to obtain services by deception. The Sri Lankan also admitted to possessing a forged travel document.

The Immigration Department said since the Anti-Illegal Migration Agency was set up, the number of fake passports seized dropped from about 240 in 2015 to 116 last year.