A youth was arrested at Calcutta airport on Thursday morning for allegedly tampering with his passport and visa.

Chandigarh resident Pradip Singh, who arrived at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport from Bangkok on a Druk flight around 6am, was detained by the immigration authorities.

Singh, 21, who worked in a village dispensary near Chandigarh, had planned to settle down in a European country. “He said he got in touch with an agent in Punjab, Nishant Singh, who promised him a Spanish or an Italian visa against a payment of Rs 7 lakh,” said an officer.

Pradip and Nishant went to Kuala Lumpur in June 2007. There, Pradip was introduced to another agent who delivered him a Spanish visa.

Pradip then proceeded to Spain but the authorities there detected the forgery and sent him back to Kuala Lumpur. His dream of settling down in Europe shattered, Singh decided to return home. But he could not do so with the original documents, in which it was mentioned that he had used a forged visa.

In a desperate bid, Pradip tampered with the visa and the stamp of the Spanish immigration authorities on the passport.

But he was second time unlucky and the forgery was detected by the authorities at Calcutta airport.