Man sentenced to 6 weeks for being in Possession of a Forged Passport

A Kuwaiti national has been sentenced to 6 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to possession of a forged passport.

Yaser A-len-ezi, was arrested yesterday at Gibraltar International Airport after concerns were raised over the validity of a Dutch passport he presented before travelling to the UK.

Police officers ran checks on the passport which returned inconclusive because its biometric chip could not be read.

A search of his belongings then uncovered a Greek asylum document. Officers found the photographs on both documents were similar, but the remaining personal details were different.

A-len-ezi told police he had obtained the Dutch passport from a person he met in a café in Athens and was travelling to the UK to visit a sick uncle.

He pleaded guilty and accepted he had acted recklessly.

Defence lawyer Jeevan Daswani said his client had fully cooperated with police and apologised on his behalf.

The Lay Bench imposed a 6 week prison sentence.