General Security has arrested four mukhtars accused of forging documents on behalf of foreigners to enable them to obtain Lebanese passports.
In a statement Saturday, General Security said the four local government officials admitted during interrogation that they were forging documents to help foreigners obtain fake Lebanese passports in return for money.
The four suspects were identified by their initials F.S., Aa.A, K.F. and M.A. However, it is not clear where the four mukhtars were arrested.
It added that authorities arrested two Palestinians trying to flee Lebanon through the northern port of Tripoli by using fake Lebanese passports they obtained from a mukhtar identified as M.A. and a Lebanese accomplice.
The local official and Lebanese suspect, N.D., confessed to faking the documents of the two Palestinian men S.Kh. and N.A., by using the information of people with “special needs.”
They were paid $1,500 for each forged passport, which are later handed over to Palestinians and Syrians residing in Lebanon. All the detainees were referred to judicial authorities, the statement concluded.
