The police are on the lookout for a person who is charging foreigners €150 to stamp their passports with falsified stamps.

The police investigations got under way when they stumbled upon three Serbian nationals who were found to have false entry stamps on their passports on yesterday afternoon. They told the police they had met someone who knew a person who was providing this service in Malta. They said they paid €150 each.

This emerged during the arraignment of Dusan Cegar, 31, Marko Pavlov, 30 and Javonka Milovanovic, 29, who pleaded guilty to having false stamps on their passports.

The court heard how the immigration police stopped a foreigner on a bus stop to check his passport, which he did not have on him. He took them to his home in Mellieha where they found that his passport was in order. While they were there, they encountered the three foreigners and when they checked their passports, they found that the stamps were false.

Serbs do not require a visa to come to Malta but, according to law, must leave the island and re-enter every three months. Their passports had false Portuguese entry and exit stamps.

They told the police that they got the stamps through an acquaintance but could not provide a name or address.

Before Magistrate Aaron Bugeja, the three Serbs pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them. They were sentenced to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years.

Police Inspector Darren Buhagiar prosecuted while lawyer Joseph Mizzi appeared for the accused as legal aid.