Six jailed for using falsified passports

Five Sudanese men and a 17-year-old Eritrean girl have been jailed after pleading guilty to charges relating to the possession and use of tampered passports.

One of the five, Ahmed Hasan, 27, was also found guilty of having escaped from police custody. He had admitted to the same charges in September but had escaped as he was being returned from court.

The other men, Idris Yahyah, 29, Abdulkader Muhammad Mustafa 18, Hachim Mohammed, 21 and Ibrahim Daham Isaac 18, all of whom are unemployed and living at the Hal Far open centre, also pleaded guilty to tampering with passports, possession and knowingly making use of falsified documents. 

The 17-year-old girl from Eritrea, who was living in a shelter also pleaded guilty to the charges.

No information as to how the accused were arrested emerged from the sitting. Inspector Karl Roberts, prosecuting, asked for a sentence of effective imprisonment for all accused, including the minor, who he said was regularly escaping from the shelter where she was being cared for.

Legal aid lawyer Josette Sultana told magistrate Astrid May Grima that the accused had been “caught up in the false hope” of leaving Malta, adding that the person who sold them the passports was already in prison.

Arguing that the accused were not hardened criminals, the lawyer asked for a minimal punishment. The minor had to be given particular attention, she said.

On their own admission, the court found the accused all guilty as charged. Ahmed Hasan was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, with the rest of the men being sentenced to one-year imprisonment.

The girl was jailed for 6 months.