A total of 98 Chinese citizens were detained in Istanbul, Turkey after they were found holding forged Kyrgyz passports at Istanbul's Atatürk airport, media reported on Wednesday.
They were en route to Saudi Arabia for the Umrah pilgrimage to Mecca, Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency reported.
They entered Turkey after passport checks at the international arrivals terminal, then bought tickets to Northern Cyprus from several airlines at the airport before passing through immigration inspectors.
The Chinese passengers then bought boarding passes for Jeddah and forged Kyrgyz passports from four people waiting at the airport's transit hall. They were handed over to Istanbul Migration Administration officials for deportation, and four other suspects were kept in detention.
China's foreign ministry and the Chinese Embassy in Turkey have yet to comment as of press time.
The Chinese are suspected to be ethnic Uyghurs and reportedly left Urumqi, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, said the Anadolu Agency.
This is not the first case wherein foreign nationals were detained with Kyrgyz passports outside the country, the Kyrgyzstan-based 24.kg news agency reported Wednesday.
