The Paphos District Court issued a four-day detention order against a 32-year-old man in the case of forgery and circulation of a forged document, while a second person, aged 29, was arrested for the offenses of forgery and circulation of a forged document.
According to the Assistant Police Director of Paphos, Michalis Ioannou, on December 13, at 21:05, at the passport control of Paphos airport, in the area of departures for the flight to the Netherlands, a man of African origin presented who presented a Portuguese identity card. Reasonable suspicions were raised that this was a forged document, since it did not have the necessary security features.
Interrogated, he admitted that he comes from an African country and is 32 years old. A further inspection of the computerized system by the asylum service revealed that he had applied for asylum in the Republic on March 4, 2021, which is pending and therefore his stay in Cyprus is legal.
An arrest warrant was issued against the 32-year-old in connection with the offenses of forgery and the circulation of a forged document and he was arrested at the Paphos Police Department. He then appeared before the Paphos District Court on Monday, which issued a four-day detention order.
In a second case on Monday morning, a man of African descent was located at Paphos airport, intending to travel to Marseille. He presented a Portuguese passport which was suspected to be counterfeit, as it did not have the necessary security features. Interrogated, he admitted that he is a citizen of an African country and is 29 years old.
A further check of his data revealed that he had applied for asylum in the Republic on July 6, 2021, which is pending before the Asylum Service. The 29-year-old was arrested for the offenses of forgery, forgery and circulation of a forged document. TAE Paphos is investigating the cases.
(KYPE / KP / AGK)