Albanian man admits using fake Bulgarian passport to evade travel restrictions

An Albanian man bought a fake Bulgarian passport for €700 to travel to Britain and try and circumvent migration restrictions, the court heard this morning.

Ben Cura, 55, admitted the charges against him, having told police that he wanted to work in England, where the movement of persons with an Albanian passport was restricted.

Inspector Lara Butters accused Cura with forging or altering a passport, knowingly making use of it and of possession of a forged immigration document.

Butters told the court that the man used the Bulgarian passport to travel from Malta to the UK, where, upon arrival the authorities spotted the fake passport and sent him back to Malta.

Cura, who was arrested yesterday, did not consult with a lawyer but had released a statement to the police admitting the accusations.

In front of Magistrate Rachel Montebello, Cura pleaded guilty to the charges.

In her submissions on punishment, Butters asked the court to send a message to other would-be passport fakers as the crime was serious and not a matter that Malta would take lying down.

Lawyer Yanika Bugeja, who acted as legal aid to the accused, argued that persons accused are meant to be judged for what they had done and not used to send messages to third parties.

The court gave the man a one-year prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.