Prison, deportation for having false visa stamp on passport

A six-month prison sentence and removal order has been handed to an Egyptian man who entered Malta with a false visa stamp on his passport.

Amin Khairy Mohamed Mahmoud Soultan was arrested at the airport upon his arrival on a flight from Cairo on Monday morning. He presented a genuine Egyptian passport which contained a false Italian visa.

He was charged with falsifying the visa, making use of a false document and being in possession of a false immigration document.

Simon Micallef Stafrace Defence counsel, legal aid, did not contest the validity of the man’s arrest. A guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

In his submissions on punishment, Police Inspector Hubert Gerada said the man had cooperated with the investigation by law enforcement.

Magistrate Rachel Montebello explained to the accused that the crime carried with it a six-month prison sentence, but the accused repeated his guilty plea after being given time to reconsider.

The court, having seen the charges and the documents, as well as the early guilty plea, declared the man guilty of the charge of tampering with the passport. It jailed him for six-months and ordered his forced removal from the islands after serving his sentence.