Two foreign nationals held with fake Bulgarian passports at Delhi airport

New Delhi [India], January 5 : Two foreign nationals were apprehended at Indira Gandhi International Airport for carrying fake Bulgarian passports, according to an official statement issued by the Central Industrial Security Force on Friday.
The identified individuals, David Verov and Asen Filipov Hristov, both Bulgarian nationals according to their passports, were observed engaging in dubious activities before their scheduled departure to Paris on Vistara flight at 1:45 pm, it said.
The passengers have been handed over to the Delhi Police for further legal action, it added.
"The matter was promptly reported to the officials of the Bulgarian Embassy, who subsequently confirmed the fraudulent nature of the passports," the statement added.
On January 5, at 12:30 pm, on the basis of behaviour detection, CISF surveillance and intelligence staff at IGI Airport noticed suspicious activities of two foreign passengers who were roaming in the check-in area near 'A' row.
"Acting on strong suspicion, the passengers, along with their belongings, were subjected to a comprehensive examination through the random X-BIS screening. Although no suspicious items were found in their baggage, a deeper investigation of their mobile phones revealed soft copies of Iranian passports. The names in these passports were identified as Kiarash Niazmand and Farid Sadeghi Pour, both Iranian nationals," the statement added.
During the inquiry, it came to light that the passengers were carrying counterfeit Bulgarian passports bearing the names David Verov and Asen Filipov Hristov. The entries in these passports indicated that they had recently arrived from Istanbul on December 31, 2023, with plans to travel to Paris from IGI Delhi, as per the statement.