There was high drama yesterday after an illegal immigrant told a magistrate he would be executed if he was forced back to his native Sri Lanka.

But with his real identity still not established, Chandrare Gophinath pleaded guilty to using forged documents to enter Bermuda on March 17.

Gophinath, speaking through a German interpreter, told Senior Magistrate Will Francis his Sri Lankan parents had asylum in Switzerland.

"If I went back to Sri Lanka, as soon as I left the airport I would be killed,'' Gopinath said.

And he hinted at the political situation in Sri Lanka after Mr. Francis interrupted the interpreter and asked if he spoke Sri Lankan. The interpreter, Christian Herzog, told Mr. Francis: "He said there are two languages in Sri Lanka. The poor man speaks one and the army speaks another.'' "When he returns they would arrest and kill him after accusing him of crimes,'' Mr. Herzog said. "He said he had asylum in Switzerland. And he has no original passport in his own name.'' Sri Lanka, a British Commonwealth country formerly known as Ceylon, is in turmoil due to a long-running civil war between its government and at least two rebel separatist movements.

Gophinath pleaded guilty to using a forged Canadian passport in the name of Marcello Rici issued on July 8 1994, with the intent "that it be acted upon as genuine''.

He also pleaded guilty to using a British Airways airline ticket in the name of Marcello Rici fraudulently, and also pleaded guilty to a third charge of using a Bermuda Immigration card fraudulently.

Police prosecutor Sgt. Donald Grant told the court the man arrived on the British Airways flight last Tuesday from Gatwick Airport outside London.

He gained entry to the Island by presenting the misrepresented documents to a Bermuda Immigration officer.

Two days later, Gophinath was refused entry into the United States at the Bermuda International Airport's US Immigration and Customs pre-clearance area.

Sgt. Grant said Gophinath provided "unsatisfactory answers to a US immigration officer'' and Bermuda Police were summoned.

They arrested him on suspicion of using forged travel documents to enter Bermuda.

Gophinath gave Police his true identity and it was discovered his photograph had been substituted for Rici's in the passport and pages five and six had been removed.

Sgt. Grant said Gophinath told Police he was temporarily resident in England and intended to get to Canada via Bermuda and New York.

Gophinath had been a student in Sri Lanka and wanted to learn English.

While in London a man sold him a forged Canadian passport and an airline ticket.

Sgt. Grant told Mr. Francis Police and Bermuda Immigration were trying to determine his identity.

"To date we have not been able to establish who he is claiming to be,'' Sgt.

Grant said. "We're just not satisfied. Each time he has been questioned, he has apparently given different stories.'' Sgt. Grant added authorities had been in contact with counterparts in the US, Canada and several European countries, but he was not known to any of them.

"There will be an application to have him deported,'' he continued. "The question remains to which country, your worship.'' And duty counsel Juliana Jack reacted angrily to the gallery when some onlookers sighed loudly when efforts were made to establish the man's real name.

"Everybody chill out!'' she said. "You're lucky your life is not in this situation.'' Gophinath told Police and an immigration officer near the end of the hearing that his real surname is Chandrasegara and that he wanted to call his family in Switzerland.

He was further remanded in custody until April 8.

The 50-minute hearing ended with a Police Sergeant telling Mr. Francis and Ms Jack: "Our lines of inquiry have led us to Berne, Switzerland, through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.'' IMMIGRATION IMM