M in Spain is short for female, fraud suspects learn

Two men, one from Togo and another from Somalia, were yesterday remanded in custody after being found in possession of false Spanish ID cards not realising that the cards gave their sex as female.

Magistrate Michael Mallia heard Kwake Poke, 28, and Benjamin Assante, 23, plead not guilty to forging official documents and making use of the documents.

Police Inspector Edel Mary Camilleri produced in court two poor-quality counterfeit ID cards which, on the back, in the section indicating the gender, displayed the letter M. The accused, he said, did not realise that M stood for Mujer which means female in Spanish.

The numbers on the two cards were identical.

Ms Camilleri told the court that the accused had claimed they paid €600 each for the cards and they apologised to the Maltese people for the problems they had caused.

The court remanded the two in custody as they had no fixed address and are awaiting repatriation.