A woman in Australia has a warning for her countrymen going overseas. Monique Sutherland and her 60-year-old mother were headed to Indonesia for a little vacation together. However, when Sutherland and her mother checked into the Batik Air ticket counter at Tullamarine Airport in Australia, they were pulled out of the line by staff over concerns about Sutherland’s passport. What was the problem? Her passport was “slightly dirty”. Because of this, staff said she’d have to fill out an “additional blue form” to show every time she’d be asked for her passport.
The problem is that once she and her mom landed in Bali, Sutherland was taken to an interrogation room where she says she was questioned for over an hour over the “damaged” passport. She adds that the employees were laughing before accusing her of breaking the law and saying they’d only give her passport back to her if she paid a $1,000 fee. After refusing to pay, Monique tracked down an Australian border security staff member where she was informed she’d likely been set up in order to take advantage of “inexperienced tourists”.
Source: 7 News
