They are 25 year-old Chetankumar Patel, and his wife, 28 year-old Jagrutiben Patel, both Indian nationals claiming to be students on a visit to Belize as tourists.

At around 9:40 a.m. yesterday, they arrived on the Taca flight from El Salvador and attempted to pass through immigration to be allowed entry into Belize. But when they presented their passports to the Immigration Officers, they immediately noticed several telltale features of their Belizean Visas which did not match those officially issued from the Immigration Department.

Those features included a reflective surface of the visa, rough borders of the document, and seal and stamp on it which appears to have been printed on as compared to those on official Visas which are imprinted.

As a result, the Patel couple was detained and under extensive questioning they admitted that the documents were forged. According to the Immigration Department, they admitted that they travelled from India to Bolivia, and they were living in the country illegally for 3 months. During that time, both gave their passports to facilitators - who they referred to as relatives - who took the documents who produced the fake visas for them. They admitted that they knew that the documents were false, and the repercussions of getting caught while using them.

A background check of these visa ID numbers revealed that they were officially issued to 2 other legitimate persons who wished to travel to the country in the past - which indicates that the forger had inside knowledge of the official system.

The Patels told Immigration officials that when their documents were returned to them with the forged visas, they travelled from Bolivia to Peru, then to Ecuador, and then to El Salvador, after which, they finally arrived in Belize yesterday. As a result, they were both criminally charged with attempting to use a permit or visa not issued by a lawful authority. They were arraigned before Magistrate Adolph Lucas today, where they pleaded guilty to the charges.