Libyan man admits to using fake passport

The arrest of another person arriving from Libya using a falsified passport, has ended with the bearer being handed a suspended sentence this morning.

Police Inspector Frankie Sammut arraigned 39-year-old Libyan Ahmed Al Ragoub Alkilani Abubaker before magistrate Antonio MIcallef Trigona this morning, charging him with making a false declaration to a public authority and possession of a falsified immigration document.

Abubaker, who lives in Tunis was arrested yesterday at the airport.

Defence lawyer Arthur Azzopardi, asked the court to bear in mind the situation in the country he had come from, as he entered a guilty plea on behalf of the accused.

The accused had come to register a company in Malta but had used false documentation, said the lawyer, adding that his CV, which was written by a third party, states that he speaks good English, when in fact the accused does not speak a word of the language.

“I am registering an admission as, whilst there are humanitarian reasons for doing this, my client understands that he broke the law. He cannot say that he didn’t know the law and cannot say that he was tricked.”

“Had there been another way, I am sure he would have taken it,” said the lawyer.

The accused was handed a six-month sentence, suspended for a year.