A police inspector yesterday expressed concern at how fast two irregular immigrants had managed to obtain fake Italian passports and residency cards to try and leave the island.

Inspector Edel Mary Camilleri told Magistrate Anthony Vella that the men had not been released from a detention centre and had pending applications before the refugee commissioner to be granted refugee status.

She said she was “worried” about how quickly they managed to make the contacts needed to provide them with fake documents before they tried to leave the country.

During the arraignment yesterday, Adam Yusuf, 25, from Niger and Hamadi Silla, 27, from Mali, admitted to the charges but when Mr Yusuf was asked to confirm his guilty plea he broke down in tears and was told to take a few minutes to compose himself.

Inspector Camilleri requested that they be given an effective jail term.

Magistrate Anthony Vella sentenced them to 18 months in jail.