A Ghanaian man has been handed a suspended sentence after admitting to trying to leave Malta with false Italian documents which he used to enter Malta when Schengen rules were still in place.

Musah Ibrahim, 25, has been recognised a refugee in Italy but travelled to Malta to seek employment. He has since found a job in the construction industry in Gozo.

Police Inspector Darren Buhagiar told Magistrate Charmaine Galea that he was apprehended at the Malta International Airport yesterday trying to board a flight to Rome. When his documents were checked, Immigration Police found that the Italian passport, residency permit and Italian identity card were all counterfeit.

The inspector said that investigations had revealed that the counterfeit documents that the man tried to use to leave Malta had been the same ones which he used to enter Malta.

However, he said that these had not been checked because he was travelling from Italy, which is a Schengen country. At the time, the Schengen rules had not yet been suspended.

In his statement, Mr Ibrahim told the police that he had been given the documents by “a friend” in Naples, where he resides, as his official documents were in the process of being renewed.

Magistrate Galea jailed the man for 12 months suspended for three years after hearing how he had cooperated with the police. Despite the suspended jail term, the court was told that Mr Ibrahim would remain in police custody until he is returned to Italy.