'Big fish' supplying false ID cards to immigrants

Investigations have led the police to believe there is a "big fish" in Malta supplying false identity cards to illegal immigrants, Police Inspector Edel Mary Camilleri told a court yesterday.

Her comments came after a number of illegal immigrants were charged in the last few weeks with trying to leave the island with false identity cards and passports.

In the latest case, Inspector Camilleri yesterday said that David Abekunle, 27 and John Austen, 18 had been found in possession of the documents at the airport when they tried to leave.

She said the reason they made it through the travel agent when buying their air tickets was that agents were not experts in identifying counterfeit documents.

She added that both men had insisted they found the documents on the street in Paceville and denied buying them.

Magistrate Doreen Clarke jailed the men for one year.

In submissions on punishment, legal aid lawyer Martin Fenech had told the court that he was expecting it to hand down a suspended sentence, as had been the case in other courts over the past few weeks.

But Inspector Camilleri argued that the men needed to be made an example of, as to halt the recent spate of similar incidents. A prison term would be a suitable deterrent to anyone thinking of committing the same crime.