Gang tries smuggling migrant disguised as patient who underwent surgery

ISTANBUL

Turkish police have busted human traffickers at Istanbul Airport who were trying to smuggle migrants, whose faces were covered in medical bandages, into Europe illegally.

The airport police detained three people after getting suspicious of a man in a wheelchair and a woman with him on May 5.

According to a report by Demirören News Agency, Mohammed al-Jamal, a Lebanese national, arrived at the airport disguised as a patient who underwent surgery, accompanied by Ester Hana A.R., an Israeli citizen of the human trafficking gang.

At passport control, police asked al-Jamal some questions before the woman stepped in and said, “He went into surgery. He cannot talk.”

Asking the man to take the bandage off his face, the police determined that the man’s face did not match with the photo on the passport.

The Lebanese man, the Israeli woman and a third person who sold the fake passport have been taken into custody.