Aussie tourist is detained by armed guards and kicked out of Bali over tiny issue with his passport
- Aussie vacationer stopped at Bali airport
- Small tear in passport saw him detained
- Has flown back to get a new passport
A tiny tear in a passport saw an Aussie holidaymaker denied entry to Bali and forced to fly home after being held by armed guards.
Matt Vandenberg, 29, departed on a 6am Jetstar flight from Sydney on Tuesday with plans to celebrate a mate’s Friday wedding on the island.
But his dreams of a fun-filled holiday came to sudden halt while trying to get through Indonesian customs.
Mr Vandenberg said everything was going to plan until an immigration officer informed him there was ‘1cm’ tear along the spine of his passport front page.
‘To be fair, he’s correct (I had no idea until he bent it all the way back, and it stood out). You couldn’t see it any other way,’ Mr Vanderberg tweeted on Tuesday.
Matt Vandenberg (pictured left) attempts to make the best of his situation after being told he can’t leave Bali’s airport
A minute tear in an Australian passport was enough to see an Aussie holidaymaker denied entry into Bali and forced to fly home
The shocked tourist was taken into a customs office where he was told the rip wasn’t acceptable and he wouldn’t be allowed into the country.
Despite protesting that immigration officers in Sydney ‘were fine’ when they scanned the document, Mr Vanderberg saw his passport confiscated until he could board a flight home that night.
He was allowed to wander the airport during his 11-hour wait but had to have two armed police guards with him at all times.
‘To be fair they are the nicest people you could have stuck by my side, feel very very very sorry for me – rules are rules,’ he tweeted with a picture of his smiling escorts.
Mr Vandenberg was also able to see the humour in his situation.
By Friday morning Mr Vandenberg was back in Sydney where he hopes to get an emergency passport to still make it to his friend’s Bali wedding on Friday
During an agonising 12-hour, Mr Vandenberg tweeted a picture of Viktor Navorski, the Tom Hanks character stuck in a US airport in Hollywood film The Terminal, while superimposing his own face on the actor.
By Wednesday morning he was back in Sydney, where he has applied for an emergency passport in the hopes of still getting back to Bali in time for his friend’s wedding.
Mr Vandenberg told news.com.au that the whole episode will probably cost him $15,000 on top of the original trip expenses.
‘It’s probably a good warning for people travelling to Indonesia — they do not mess around,’ he tweeted.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk