Wanted German passed himself off as an Indian

Disguised as an Indian with dyed black hair and a fake tan, convicted kidnapper Julian Matthias Buchwald - a fair-skinned German - used a falsified Indian passport to slip through customs and immigration checkpoints before taking his seat on the 12.30pm Singapore Airlines flight from Sydney to Chennai.
Just under 15 hours later, Buchwald touched down in India, where his brief life on the run came to an end.
Suspicious Chennai Airport officials refused to allow Buchwald to enter India, believing his passport was fake and sensing something was amiss with his appearance. He was sent back to Singapore where his true identity was revealed and he was arrested.
Victoria Police want to know how the German-born Buchwald, who does not speak a word of Hindi, managed to use an Indian passport with a fake photo to dupe Australian customs and immigration officers into believing he was an Indian citizen going home after a holiday.
Police suspect he was planning to make his way back to Germany from India.
Buchwald, 23, who migrated to Victoria with his family when in his teens, left the country on September 16 - a day before he was due to be sentenced in Victoria's County Court for the kidnapping last year of his then 17-year-old girlfriend Carolynne Watson.
Judge John Smallwood sentenced him in absentia to a minimum of five years and three months' jail.
Police are working with the Immigration Department to find out how he managed to get out of the country on what was obviously a doctored passport and who helped him.
''It was a very amateur alteration to the passport,'' investigating officer Detective Sergeant Matthew Gleeson told The Sunday Age.
The passport belonged to an Indian tourist who had reported it missing. An Immigration Department spokesman said Buchwald was stopped at the airport and his passport checked but it was in such bad condition officers did not realise the photo was fake.
''We … are investigating how this incident happened,'' the spokesman said. ''The facts are he was travelling on a genuine passport and he matched the photograph on the document.''
Buchwald was eventually refused entry at Chennai Airport because, as Detective Gleeson points out, the name on the passport was clearly an Indian name and Buchwald is clearly a Caucasian male with fair skin and normally light brown hair.
Buchwald was returned to Melbourne under police escort on September 20 and is now in custody awaiting sentencing on October 21 for failing to appear in court. The maximum penalty for anyone convicted of aiding and abetting Buchwald is 10 years' jail and a $140,000 fine.
04/10/09 Mark Russell/The Age.com.au, Australia

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Categories: Airports Oct 2009, Foreign Oct 2009