A spate of arrests of people trying to leave Malta indicates a thriving trade in falsified and stolen travel documents.  

Three separate arraignments on Sunday of migrants caught trying to leave the island saw the accused all admit to having bought the documents for prices ranging from €300 to €600.  

In one case, Salah Ghebo admitted to trying to catch a catamaran to Sicily using a falsified Belgian passport and identity card.  

Ghebo told police he wanted to go to Italy to visit his sick sister.  

Inspector Darren Buhagiar told the court that Ghebo paid €600 for the documents, which were bought from a “Mohammed” in Valletta.  

Buhagiar said cases of asylum seekers trying to leave Malta in such a manner had “exploded” ever since the island’s seaports and airport were re-opened.  

He urged the court to send a strong message about these cases.  

The 20-year-old Ghebo, who has previously spent six months in jail for escaping from the Hal Safi migrants centre, was imprisoned for 18 months on Sunday.  

In another case, Gabriel Ehizogie, a Nigerian national who ended up stranded in Malta after Italy withdrew his asylum protection, was also jailed for 18 months having been caught trying to fly to Berlin using false documents.

I wanted to see my son. I am very sorry

The man, who told police he was just trying to visit his son, broke down in tears upon hearing his sentence.  

“I wanted to see my son. I am very sorry”, he told the court.  

Inspector Bugahiar said Ehizogie had bought the falsified Italian travel documents for €475 from a Ghanian man he met near the Italian embassy in Floriana.  

This was the second time Ehizogie has been jailed for trying to leave the country without official documents, having been sentenced to six months imprisonment last December.  

A third case saw two 23-year-old Eritrean nationals sent to jail for six months after having been caught trying to catch a flight to Pisa with two authentic Gambian passports.  

Inspector Buhagiar said the men had bought the passports from someone in Marsa for €300 per passport.  

He said whoever sold them the passports had not even told them they couldn’t travel to Italy with the Gambian documents alone.  

The court heard how the two men had been sleeping in the streets since June as the Hal Far tent village had evicted them for some unknown reason.  

They did not have any travel documents of their own.  

Magistrate Gabriella Vella presided over all the cases.