Iranian Couple with Amateurish Fake Israeli Passports Arrested in Argentina

Authorities in Argentina said to raise alert level
after catching pair traveling on documents riddled with Hebrew mistakes, note
proximity to embassy bombing anniversary
Authorities in Buenos Aires have arrested two
Iranians suspected of traveling on fake Israeli passports, according to local
Argentinean media.
Police are treating the two, a man and woman, as
possible terror suspects, and have raised the alertness level, daily Clarin
reported.
The couple, named as Sajjad Naserani, 27, and
Mahsoreh Sabzali, 30, were arrested last week after they entered Argentina on
the apparently fake passports.
The passports listed their names as Netanel and
Rivka Toledano. The passport ID numbers actually belonged to a French-Israeli
couple named as David and Brigitte Assouline, according to Argentinean media.
Authorities initially suspected the passports had
been stolen and doctored, but later concluded they were fake after finding
several spelling mistakes in Hebrew. One picture of the passports carried in
Argentinian media shows the word “Israel” misspelled, among many other flubs.
The couple had flown from Spain to Buenos Aires last
week and were allowed into the country before being arrested at a hotel days
later. The investigation involved branches of Interpol in Argentina, Spain and
Israel, according to Clarin.
Naserani, who claimed to be a photographer, was
arrested with a camera. The two said that they had made their way to Spain via
Turkey and Greece, La Nacion reported.
Officials said they had raised the alert level
because of the proximity to the anniversary of the March 17, 1992 bombing of
the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Clarin reported.
“This of course raises the level of alertness, and
so I understand it is essential to maximize all security and prevention
measures,” prosecuting judge Luis Rodriguez said, according to the news site.
Iran and its Hezbollah proxy have been widely blamed
for both the embassy bombing, which killed 29 people, and an attack on the AMIA
Jewish center two years later that left 85 dead.