The British Customs and Immigration Base staff implemented measures on the coronavirus test certificates at the Pergamon and Strovilia roadblocks, which led to arrests for presenting forged documents, the Base said in a statement. a total of eight certificates.
The measures introduced at the roadblocks, since the pandemic was declared earlier this year, oblige those traveling from the occupied territories to take a negative test to be allowed to enter.
Speaking this week, the head of British Customs and Immigration in Dhekelia, Adam Chatfield, said that although there are now fewer people crossing the roadblocks, the coronavirus posed a whole new challenge for his team, according to the announcement.
He pointed out that "we had three separate cases where false examinations of Koroniou were identified, with a total of eight certificates".
He noted that no case has yet passed through the courts, but there are ongoing investigations into two cases that are to appear before the court.
"When a crime is committed, the officers refer the prosecution to the BB Police, with which we work closely, in order to collect the required evidence. "We have seen a huge reduction in traffic in the British Base areas due to restrictions, but although there is much less traffic, checkpoint officers carry out extensive checks on those crossing," he said.
He pointed out that "when there is a suspicion that a document is forged, the officers carry out checks in the laboratory where the certificate was issued."
"Coronavirus certificates are not issued in the same way as travel documents and this means that the certificates do not have the security features we would expect to see. "This means that detecting a fake certificate can be difficult and officers rely on their interrogation and checks to verify the authenticity of the document."
He added that if a person is unable to provide proper documentation at the roadblock, he will be barred from entering and according to the customs official, the number of rejections has increased.
"Officers refuse entry if they do not meet the current travel restrictions on coronavirus and we have seen an increase in rejections due to lack of coronavirus certification, expired certificates or because they are not legal residents or do not hold Cypriot citizenship."
Source: KYPE