Wrong Passport Digit Leads To 32-hour Detention

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Wrong passport digit leads to 32-hour detention Aug 02, 2009
Dumb system as usual - expected from the local authorities.
1 wrong digit can mess up your life. With their bloated database of finger prints, photo records, why should 1 wrong digit entry create such an issue

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Sharjah: An erroneous entry in the immigration's blacklist led to a harrowing 32-hour detention of a 60-year-old Indian woman and her 19-year-old son at the Sharjah International Airport recently.

"My mother and brother arrived from India last Saturday at around 5.30am and had to stay at the Sharjah airport for 32 hours as the immigration officials said that my brother had been blacklisted by the Al Ain Residency and Naturalisation Department," said Liz Ann.

The 19-year-old man, who holds a valid Dubai residency visa, has never been to Al Ain, his sister insisted.

"My mother tried to explain to the immigration official at the airport that my brother had never been to Al Ain and he has never been issued any visa from Al Ain but they did not listen to her," Ann said.


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She said that her mother tried to explain the situation to the unidentified immigration official, but the official allegedly refused to listen and help sort out the issue.

"My mother asked the officials at the airport to contact the [Al Ain Residency] department to find out the issue but they refused to help," Ann said.

Officials likewise seized the young man's passport and even prohibited them from taking their luggage.

"My mother told the immigration staff that they can keep her passport [as a security guarantee] till they sort out the issue but they also refused," Ann claimed.

After learning of the detention, the young man's father immediately went to the Al Ain Residency and Naturalisation Department to make the verification on the blacklisting himself.

It was learnt from the residency department's record that the young man's passport almost had the same serial number as the one who was blacklisted, except for one digit.

"My father was told that there is a blacklisted man with [an almost] similar passport number but one digit was different. It was a mistake from their end," Ann said.

She added that her father tried to call Sharjah airport authorities, but the officials allegedly refused to honour the information.

"They said they needed an official letter [from Al Ain Residency Department] so my father had to go back the following day [Sunday] to get the letter," Ann said.

Sharjah airport authorities however, released the mother and son from detention even without the official letter from the residency department.

"Immigration officers in Sharjah have been detaining lots of people for no reason. What's going on with the officials in Sharjah?" a dejected Ann said.

Another man claimed that he was also held at the Sharjah airport despite having a valid visa.

"They did not let me in because there was a drop of water on the side of my visa. They insisted that I should obtain a new one," the man claimed.

Immigration officials at the Sharjah airport denied the travellers' claims and refused to further comment on the incidents.

michaeldubai
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Aug 02, 2009
"It was learnt from the residency department's record that the young man's passport almost had the same serial number as the one who was blacklisted, except for one digit. "

so 1981 is "almost" 1982, and

the Boeing 747 is almost the Boeing 777, after all they differ by just 1 digit
BlackburnRovers
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Aug 02, 2009
naaaa this is not even a good bashing shot but not bad cuz this is usual in all airports... try harder next time. and if it's less than 1% then no problems .

beside maybe you are garbage man and not familiar with airport systems. 1 digit or 100000000 it's the same and it means a different person dummy.
uaekid
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Aug 02, 2009
Hey porcupine face, your bloated image reminded me.


This weekend, walking home from the nearby hospital, nearly got run over by this local bum driving a Corolla at high speed (80+??) on the wrong side of the road. Nearly runs over 2 other kids who miss by a few inches. Shouted at him. Luckily he heard me and braked hard. Comes barging out of his car shouting at me. Bloody idiot says I was wrong to shout at him and this was his country and he could do what he liked. ( yeah the same old story) Here’s the best part. He flicks he wallet open for a second and says he’s with the cops and he is going to drag me to the cops. I say I didn’t see the card, show me again. He does again for a sec. Again I say I didn’t see the card and to show me again. He says he doesn’t have to. Down with the cold and pissed up with this moron, I start firing him and made a scene in full public view. Went on to call the cops and the feather actually ran away.

Whether at the airports or on the roads You bums really get your kicks from harassing expats don’t you. At least I can read Arabic. Don’t know how many people may have been tricked with the fake cop id card scam. And to hell with the “my country, I’ll do what I want”. Only shows you’ll have no respect for the laws your own govts. Pass. And no respect for other humans.
michaeldubai
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Aug 02, 2009
as you said , or always say ( one did this and one did that ) so you are not expecting every local to be good or nice, beside if you don't or can't deal with them, well buddy that's your problem not the country, this is a survival issue, I traveled allot and I know for sure if you can't survive in UAE then you better kill your self man cuz the world out their is much worst, deal with it. and don't make a usual daily life to such crimes. where you come from anyway ? heaven ? LOL
uaekid
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Aug 02, 2009
Regardless, it was appalling of the airport immigration staff not to even bother to make a phone call which would have resulted in a fax or email, that could have cleared up the situation in minutes.

Appalling behaviour! And what kind of message does this send to tourists aswell? Which may I remind you are the backbone of this country's economy!

MID, this doesn't happen too often thankfully. What an idiot! Hardly any locals work for the police anyway, they're all Yemeni or Egyptian. You might also like to know that a fair number of westerners work for CID here, because they can infiltrate where locals cannot.
Chocoholic
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Aug 02, 2009
uaekid wrote:as you said , or always say ( one did this and one did that ) so you are not expecting every local to be good or nice, beside if you don't or can't deal with them, well buddy that's your problem not the country, this is a survival issue, I traveled allot and I know for sure if you can't survive in UAE then you better kill your self man cuz the world out their is much worst, deal with it. and don't make a usual daily life to such crimes. where you come from anyway ? heaven ? LOL


UAEkid, so in your opinion a person behaving rudely or pretending to be a cop, or driving like a maniac is not guilty, but his victim is the one to blame?

What sort of logic is that ?

And Yes, Nigeria and Papua New Guinea are worse places, why should you always compare the UAE to worse places when it could compare to better places?

Never have I heard someone in Singapore claim immunity from basic manners or driving skills because "its his country"
BlackburnRovers
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Aug 02, 2009
uaekid wrote: beside if you don't or can't deal with them, well buddy that's your problem not the country, this


Wrong, in many first world places one can deal with a queue breaker by correcting him. Here, that may lead to a false compalint of swearing, and the native will always win.

So its the system that allows them to do this, so I doubt its michael's problem.
BlackburnRovers
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Aug 02, 2009
Chocoholic wrote:Regardless, it was appalling of the airport immigration staff not to even bother to make a phone call which would have resulted in a fax or email, that could have cleared up the situation in minutes.

Appalling behaviour! And what kind of message does this send to tourists aswell? Which may I remind you are the backbone of this country's economy!

MID, this doesn't happen too often thankfully. What an idiot! Hardly any locals work for the police anyway, they're all Yemeni or Egyptian. You might also like to know that a fair number of westerners work for CID here, because they can infiltrate where locals cannot.


For how long have you been living here to assume that the tourists are the BACKBONE of the country economy, hardly. ?

as always you jamb to conclusions, why do you think an airport officials would want to hold anyone ? they are busy 24/7 as it is and I'm specking about airports world wide!! now it would be a solution to verify the misunderstanding by fax or email IF other departments are open at the time and if not, then things has to wait until they do, hard for travelers yes but it has to be done, I guess you do know how many thugs want to come in the country chocoholic and when officials are being serious in checking ppl this is for the benefit of you and me, right?

and yes it happens everywhere, for 5 years we locals have been stopped in US airports bcz of the families names nature that are similar and all starts with AL at the beginning so we have to wait many hours at the airports to be verified just bcz the officials are suspicious and that's it.

but it's just you ppl blowing things out to space as usual but this one is stupid, really and not worth discussing it.

aaaaand again stop discriminating, what did you mean by ( they're all Yemeni or Egyptian ) do you thing god created you the only creature with a brain ?
uaekid
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Aug 02, 2009
uaekid wrote:
Chocoholic wrote:Regardless, it was appalling of the airport immigration staff not to even bother to make a phone call which would have resulted in a fax or email, that could have cleared up the situation in minutes.

Appalling behaviour! And what kind of message does this send to tourists aswell? Which may I remind you are the backbone of this country's economy!

MID, this doesn't happen too often thankfully. What an idiot! Hardly any locals work for the police anyway, they're all Yemeni or Egyptian. You might also like to know that a fair number of westerners work for CID here, because they can infiltrate where locals cannot.


For how long have you been living here to assume that the tourists are the BACKBONE of the country economy, hardly. ?

as always you jamb to conclusions, why do you think an airport officials would want to hold anyone ? they are busy 24/7 as it is and I'm specking about airports world wide!! now it would be a solution to verify the misunderstanding by fax or email IF other departments are open at the time and if not, then things has to wait until they do, hard for travelers yes but it has to be done, I guess you do know how many thugs want to come in the country chocoholic and when officials are being serious in checking ppl this is for the benefit of you and me, right?

and yes it happens everywhere, for 5 years we locals have been stopped in US airports bcz of the families names nature that are similar and all starts with AL at the beginning so we have to wait many hours at the airports to be verified just bcz the officials are suspicious and that's it.

but it's just you ppl blowing things out to space as usual but this one is stupid, really and not worth discussing it.

aaaaand again stop discriminating, what did you mean by ( they're all Yemeni or Egyptian ) do you thing god created you the only creature with a brain ?


Kid, I suggest you edit your post and rephrase the highlighted text as clearly what you refer to is missing.
Bora Bora
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Aug 02, 2009
uaekid wrote:
Chocoholic wrote:and yes it happens everywhere, for 5 years we locals have been stopped in US airports bcz of the families names nature that are similar and all starts with AL at the beginning so we have to wait many hours at the airports to be verified just bcz the officials are suspicious and that's it.



I was in the US in those days and I always thought the INS acted stupid when they would interrogate or bar people with first names of Mohammad or Ahmad as they are very common names.....
BlackburnRovers
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Aug 02, 2009
Kid, I simply meant that the majority of 'on the beat' police officers are of these nationalities - it's a fact so you can't refute it! Locals only tend to hold high ranking positions and they certainly wouldn't act in that manner either.

Sadly yes, tourism is a major contributor to the UAE economy, again a fact which you cannot deny!

The bahaviour of the staff was appalling, any way you look at it. From the story, they didn't even try to help but blatantly refused to. So your argument about things taking time to check is invalid and a moot point from the start!
Chocoholic
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Aug 02, 2009
They were detained for 32 hours!!! that's brutal. Those officials are really beasts.

But in the west they are much more civilized.

How about this:

Man jailed for not supporting someone else's child
By Assocaited Press

POSTED: 11:12 a.m. EDT, Jul 16, 2009

ADEL, GA.: A Georgia man spent more than a year behind bars for failing to pay child support for a child that wasn't his, but he was released after DNA tests showed he wasn't the father.
Frank Hatley, 50, had been jailed since June 2008 for not making payments, but two separate DNA tests in the last nine years showed he was not the father of the boy, who is now 21.
http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/50944992.html

Hello! two DNA tests were ignored
Metaphor79
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Aug 02, 2009
What airport has detained someone for a period of time and it turned out to be a mistake? Especially after 9/11 when airports were doing racial profiling? When airports didn't update their "high risk" list? And in general because of poor paperwork on either the departure side or receiving side? Come on sh*t happens all over.
Bora Bora
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Aug 02, 2009
It's an unfortunate incident to say the least, however not uncommon in this world, I have suffered such incidents in the UK, especially in my early days of working in the Middle East, some of those guys in those days when they saw Arabic in a passport just went haywire.
sage & onion
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Aug 02, 2009
i guess this happens all the time at all the airports..

sh*t happens every where and its just unfortunate tht it happened with this family..
it was realld sad to see the way the airport authorities behaved..

i know of ppl who have been detained at JFK airport for 22 hrs just for having 3-4 saudi and egyptian immigration stamps..

the mor*ons at the JFK airport couldn't even understand tht ppl do travel to these countries for business as well and not necessarily for other intentions..
xdude
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