Alert immigration officer spots passport scam
An immigration officer yesterday told a court how, after his colleagues drew his attention to the passport of a Nigerian man who was trying to leave Malta at the airport, he noticed that the photograph on the passport did not match the man - it was the...
An immigration officer yesterday told a court how, after his colleagues drew his attention to the passport of a Nigerian man who was trying to leave Malta at the airport, he noticed that the photograph on the passport did not match the man - it was the photo of a Nigerian man who played in his football team.
Immigration officer Simon Agius, who plays for the Lija football team, said he recognised the man in the photograph to be Daddy Augustine Okeke. Agius phoned Okeke who told him that his passport had gone missing a few months earlier.
Agius was testifying before Magistrate Antonio Mizzi in the compilation of evidence against 25-year-old Nigerian Okeke who is pleading not guilty to transferring his passport to another person on December 17 and filing a false police report, in which he reported his passport missing, two days later.
In a separate case, Nnadozie Collins Ikechukwu, 41, also of Nigeria, admitted to making use of Okeke's passport and was given a one-year jail term suspended for four years.
Police Inspector Denise Mula prosecuted. Dr Kris Busietta appeared for Okeke. Ikechukwu appeared unattended.