Gambiaj.com – (BANJUL, The Gambia) – The Gambia Immigration Department has announced the conclusion of its investigation into five alleged fraudulent Gambian passports intercepted by Canadian authorities, confirming that all the documents were “100% counterfeit.”
On March 12, 2026, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) intercepted five fraudulent Gambian passports hidden inside sandals within a 1,600 kg shipment from Nigeria at Toronto Pearson International Airport. A 44-year-old Caledon woman was charged with possessing forged documents after all seven seized passports (including two South African) used the same photo.
In a press release signed by Public Relations Officer Inspector Siman Lowe, the department said the investigation was conducted by its Intelligence, Investigation and Risk Analysis Cell in collaboration with the Document Examination and Fraud Detection Unit (DEFDU) and the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The passports were intercepted by the Canada Border Services Agency at Toronto Pearson International Airport on March 12, 2026.
According to the GID, the examination followed an earlier press release issued on April 16, 2026, concerning the alleged fraudulent passports.
The department said the passports were issued in the names of Dominic Mubarak, Kennedy Mboma, Anderson Kalumba, Charles Mbesuma, and Benjamin Zulu. Although the documents carried different dates of birth and issue dates, investigators found that all listed Banjul as the place of birth.
The GID noted that none of the names appeared to be traditional Gambian names and further revealed that the passport numbers used did not exist in The Gambia’s biometric passport database.
Authorities said forensic examination conducted at the GID Fraud Detection Lab uncovered several security irregularities, including poor hot foil stamping, incorrect dimensions of the biometric chip logo, inaccurate font sizes on the bio-data page, and improper positioning of the Effective Reading Zone (ERZ).
Investigators also found that the passport numbers had been manually perforated, while the visa pages contained random dots and unreadable microtexts. The documents additionally carried what the GID described as fake Gambian and Senegalese airport stamps.
“The results of the examination indicate 100% certainty of counterfeiting, as all examined passports fell short of ICAO Document 9303 standards,” the statement said.
The immigration department expressed appreciation to Canadian authorities for their cooperation during the investigation, describing the partnership as a catalyst for future collaboration in combating document fraud.
The GID also reaffirmed its commitment under the leadership of Director General Mboob to strengthen mechanisms aimed at countering document fraud and safeguarding the integrity of Gambian national documents.
“We assure Gambians of our relentless commitment to transparency and accountability in the discharge of our immigration mandate,” the statement added.
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