Tripoli, 20 April:
Egyptian immigration authorities at Cairo Airport on Thursday thwarted the first known attempt to forge a Libyan visa. An . . .[restrict]Egyptian passenger who was detained claimed to have obtained the visa from forgers in order to seek work in Libya.
Official airport sources revealed that during a routine passport check on passengers travelling to Libya on a Libyan Airlines flight bound for Tripoli, the airport passport authorities suspected the authenticity of an Egyptian passenger‘s passport.
On examining the passport, it became apparent that the Libyan Entry Visa stamped in it was forged. The man admitted during questioning that he obtained the visa from a gang in central Cairo, paying £E 1,000 Egyptian pounds (150 dollars) for it, having failed to obtain a visa from the Libyan embassy in order to look for work there.
Egyptians have needed visas to travel to work in Libya since the beginning of the year. Over 50,000 were issued in February and March according to Labour Minister Mustafa Rujbani but tens of thousands more are still trying to obtain them. [/restrict]
