Han Ximin

A NIGERIAN national was recently detained for attempting to enter China with a fake passport.

The Nigerian, whose identity was not disclosed, was the 10th foreigner caught at the Shenzhen airport in the past month trying to enter the country with forged documents.

Border police said the Nigerian man, who flew to Shenzhen on Flight AK88 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Friday, tried to enter China using a Botswanian passport. The passport stated he was born in 1982.

"The man with big beard looked like a man in his 40s, but the passport showed he was only 26 years old,?± said Zhang Yang, a police officer at the airport checkpoint. Police found that the photo on the passport had been switched.

The man admitted that he was actually 45 years old and he had paid US$500 for the Botswanian passport. He said he was told when he was studying in Malaysia that a Botswanian passport would get him through Chinese checkpoints more easily than a Nigerian passport. He replaced the photo on the passport with his photo before flying into Shenzhen.

The Nigerian said he had wanted to import some products from China to his home country.