Authorities in the Ecuadorian capital Quito arrested two Iranians who were attempting to travel to Spain using fake Israeli passports.

According to Yedioth Ahronoth, the pair – a man and woman in their 20s – attempted to leave the South American country for the Spanish capital Madrid but were discovered to be in possession of forged travel documents, which used personal information of two Israelis.

The Iranians reportedly arrived in Ecuador using the fake passports at the end of last month and attempted to travel a few days ago.

Two Iranian regime spies were arrested in Ecuador with a fake Israeli passport pic.twitter.com/iMx40SpyXh — Neda Amin (@Amin_Neda) February 10, 2020

Their original Iranian passports were also found in their possession. It is unclear why they were holding fake passports or whether they were affiliated to Iran’s intelligence services, although it might be because an Israel passport holder does not require an entry visa to visit Ecuador.

In March of last year, Argentinian authorities apprehended two Iranians with forged Israeli passports that “were riddled with spelling mistakes in Hebrew”, according to local media at the time.

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