ID misuse: Trial postponed

The trial of an Asian man accused on grounds of forgery was adjourned until November 15 to hear a witness. The accused, who was working as a salesman in a mobile shop, reportedly took advantage of a coloured copy of an ID belonging to a stranger to issue 19 SIM chips to customers, according to court files.

It is claimed that the Asian was in possession of the copy of a Pakistani man’s ID, and he had exploited it to sell the chips for several buyers in the year 2014. He was arrested following a tip-off received by the police.

“I made the copy of the Pakistani man’s ID upon his request when he visited me once. He said he would return to collect it but he didn’t,” the accused said in his statement.

“After a few days a Bahraini came to me and requested to buy chips to a telecommunications company in Bahrain but he claimed he didn’t have an ID. Therefore I decided to issue the chips using the copy of the Pakistani man’s ID. Several expats who arrived recently also came to me and I sold them chips using the same ID copy in a bid to make their life easier,” he said.