Opposition MP Mujibur Rahman told Parliament that a former Sri Lankan Member of Parliament was detained and questioned by UK immigration authorities due to alleged quality issues with New Sri Lankan passports.

The Samagi Jana Balawegaya MP claimed the passport could not be properly read, prompting British immigration officials to suspect that it was fraudulent.

Rahman also alleged that the number of pages in Sri Lankan passports had been reduced from 64 to 48 without any reduction in the Rs. 6,000 issuance fee. He further claimed that the new passports do not include observation or extension pages and that the print quality is substandard.

He said issues such as immigration stamps bleeding through to the opposite page have resulted in some countries rejecting the passports.

Responding to the allegations, Minister of Public Security and Parliamentary Affairs Ananda Wijepala rejected claims that there were quality issues with New Sri Lankan passports.

He said reducing the number of pages was in line with international standards and was a practice adopted by several countries.

The Minister added that court proceedings are continuing over the tender to procure five million passports and said the Government is working to resolve issues related to the introduction of the e-passport system.