‘40 Afghans had forged N.Z. visas’

Press, 15 July 1982, Page 1

‘40 Afghans had forged N.Z. visas’

NZPA . , Sydney The 40 Afghans who unsuccessfully attempted to enter Australia on Tuesday were travelling on forged New Zealand visas. The New Delhi correspondent of the “Sydney Morning Herald” reported yesterday that, according to an Afghan refugee leader in the Indian capital, the visas were forged and some Singapore Airline agents were in league with the racketeers who provided the documents. The report said it was a mystery where the Afghans got their New Zealand visas as New Zealand had closed its High Commission in India and consular matters were -handled by the British High Commission. The Afghans, who had tickets to New Zealand, had apparently torn up their New Zealand visas before arriving in Sydney as they thought

they had a better chance of getting into Australia. The Australian Government rejected their request for entry as refugees and plans were made to deport them. The Minister of Immigration, Mr John Hodges, gave permission for a man and his wife, who is due to have a baby within a week, . to remain in Australia until the child is born. The other 38 were to leave last evening for Madras, where they came from on Monday. Their departure, originally planned for yesterday morning, was delayed because the plane in which they were due to leave had made an emergency landing in Indonesia. The Singapore Airlines Boeing 747 was forced to land at Jakarta after flying through a cloud of volcanic ash which caused two of its engines to fail.