JEDDAH, 3 June  — Police arrested three Bangladeshi workers recently for their involvement in forging official documents and stamps of government agencies following a raid on their hideouts in south and central Jeddah.

The Bangladeshi workers confessed to forging 70 iqamas using fake stamps of the Passport Department. Police seized 30 forged stamps hidden in toilets and under beds during the raid. They also included stamps of notaries in Riyadh and Jeddah.

Security officers noticed that the forgery, which has been hitherto restricted to stamps of the Passport Department and foreign consulates, had stretched to legal authorities in the country.

Police said the gang was using forged stamps of the Foreign Ministry’s visa and attestation sections as well as that of the Saudi mission in Dhaka and the Bangladeshi passport authorities.

Police said six stamps seized from the gang were of the Passport Department in Jeddah. The stamps were used for transfer of sponsorship and other purposes.

The gang has also forged stamps of the passports office in Makkah, Riyad Bank and various private companies. Police seized 20 Bangladeshi passports and three forged Pakistani passports from them.

Investigations proved that two Bangladeshis, Muzzammil and Abu Nasir, carried out their illegal operations in Faisaliah and Al-Nuzla Al-Yamaniya districts with the help of Somali agents. They sold forged iqamas for SR400 each.

Muzzammil said in his confession that he came to Saudi Arabia to work as a sales representative for a private company. “My monetary situation forced me to enter into this illegal activity,” he said.

Brig. Ali Mousa Assiry, director of Jeddah Passports, said his officers carried out the raid after close monitoring of the hideouts.

Passport officers in Jeddah had earlier busted a Pakistani gang involved in similar forgery activity.