Some 90 people were jailed between August 2 and September 5 for being in possession of fake documents at Malta International Airport or Grand Harbour, the police said.

Police investigated and charged 120 people during that period. Of those, 90 were jailed for anything between one month and two years.

Others were given a suspended sentence and others were deported after they were caught working without a permit, without money to sustain themselves, or with an expired visa, the police said in a statement. 

The majority of people held by the police were from Sudan. Others hailed from Asia or Eastern Europe including Macedonia, Serbia, Russia, Bosnia and Albania. Others were from Brazil.

Assistant commissioner Neville Xuereb, who leads the Immigration Police section, said police were also coming across a growing number of people trying to enter or exit the country as stowaways. Police are working with Transport Malta and port security officers to catch such cases. 

Breach of immigration law, the police said, was taken very seriously and in the majority of cases it was punishable by jail.

Fake documents - An EU phenomenon

The police said that the use of fake documents by people trying to escape to another country was prevalent all around the European Union. In the past weeks, the number of fake documents being used increased at an alarming rate, in an unexpected effect of COVID-19.

According to Frontex, 600 fake documents were intercepted around the European frontier in the past two weeks, a growing number that reflected what was also happening in Malta.