People using expired passports to enter Fiji cannot be detected unless Fiji Immigration is notified by the person's country of origin.
Director Immigration Major Nemani Vuniwaqa made this revelation in relation to the six Indian nationals who used expired and forged Canadian and British passports to enter Fiji.
Five of them came on the 15th of January using fake Canadian Passports while the sixth Indian national came into the country on the 22nd of January undetected.
The Immigration officials and Police only came to know when they were informed by the Canadian authorities and Interpol.
The six were arrested on Friday when they were leaving the country.
According to Vuniwaqa, these Indian nationals were not detected while they were entering the country because they could not ascertain that the passports they were holding had expired earlier and that they were using forged passports.
This incident has forced the Immigration Department to liaise with various embassies and High Commissions to provide them with the list of all those passports that have expired.
Vuniwaqa said through the Foreign Affairs Ministry they will now clamp down on those immigrants who are entering the country illegally.
Expired passport users can’t be detected
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