Stolen passport bought on TikTok earns its user a prison sentence

An Albanian man who travelled on a stolen passport he bought on TikTok has been jailed for six months while attempting to fly to Dublin.

Jurgen Quku, 23, from Albania was arraigned before magistrate Joe Mifsud on Wednesday morning, accused of using a passport that had been issued to another person.

Police Inspector Christian Abela told the court that Quku had been arrested yesterday morning at the airport after immigration officials noted the accused was attempting to use another man’s passport to board a flight to Dublin.

Quku told the police that he had left Albania and crossed into Greece on foot due to a travel ban. After a week in Greece, he had purchased a stolen Dutch passport from a seller on TikTok and used it to travel to Malta.

Lawyer Mark Mifsud Cutajar, assisting the accused as legal aid, informed the court that his client wished to enter an admission of guilt.

In view of his cooperation with the police, the Albanian was sentenced to six months in prison, with the court ordering that he be deported immediately upon serving his sentence. Asylum seekers and refugees were one thing, said the magistrate, but abuses of this nature posed a real risk to local and European security.

Magistrate Mifsud stressed that the burden of fighting this type of crime must also be shared by other countries.