Policeman holds four suspects named 'Abu Dhabi' in passport confusion

Stock photo: PA

An officer has been left red-faced after believing he had busted a fake passport gang with all the suspects being called "Abu Dhabi".

The office from Stoke-on-Trent reportedly confused the names on the passports with the country they flew to Britain from, according to Police magazine.

All four men were held on suspicion of entering the UK illegally after the officer though they were all called Abu Dhabi.

Thankfully, he asked a colleague to double check the passports before confronting the detained men.

According to the Metro, Police magazine reported: "A local policing team was urgently tasked to check the identity and immigration status of four Iranian nationals who had recently entered the UK.

"On arriving the officer diligently checked the passport of the subjects, saying 'This is highly suspicious - these documents must be false, they all have the same name - Abu Dhabi'."
The embarrassed policeman blamed the mistake on forgetting his reading glasses, and the four men were released.

It must be the week for 'embarrassing' mix-ups; a massive search and rescue operation in Iceland was called off this weekend - after police realised the woman was involved in looking for herself.

More than 50 people took part in the search operation around the volcanic region of Eldgja in Iceland's southern highlands on Saturday afternoon.

Police were called to the area after guides believed a member of a tour party had failed to return to the bus for more than an hour.

An officer said: "She had no idea that she was missing."

The embarrassing incident was caused by the fact that a count of the number of people on board had not been carried out correctly, and that the woman had changed her clothes and freshened up before getting back on the bus.


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