Foreign Citizen Gets Detained in Portugal for Using Fake Passport

The Foreigners and Borders Service revealed that the foreign citizen presented herself with a fake French passport during the documentary control carried out before the flight to Luton Airport in the United Kingdom, AtoZSerwisPlus.pt reports.

As soon as the authorities found out that the passport was a fake document, the individual was arrested. In addition, since the foreign citizen was accompanied by a minor, the Foreigners and Borders Service contacted the responsible authorities, and the child was sent to the Apulia Temporary Shelter Centre.

“The citizen was arrested for the crime of forgery/counterfeiting a document, as well as for irregular stay in Portugal. As she was accompanied by a minor, the SEF immediately contacted the National Social Emergency Line, which decided to install the child at the Apulia Temporary Shelter Centre in Esposende,” the statement of the Foreigners and Borders Service reads.

Apart from taking such actions, the Portuguese authorities were also able to find the real passport of the two individuals, which were left at the hotel where they stayed overnights. Thus, they were able to find out the nationality of both.

The defendant has already attended the first interrogation. It has been noted that the child was also present.

“The defendant, accompanied by the child, was present this morning at the Shift Court in Porto for the first interrogation of the defendant and for the application of the respective coercive measures. A certificate was extracted and will again be presented to a judge next Monday,” the Borders Service added.

It has been explained that both of them were kept by the Foreigners and Borders Service by court order.

Apart from the above-mentioned case, the Portuguese have detained another person too. The Foreigners and Borders Service said earlier this week that they had detained a person wanted by Interpol at Lisbon Airport. The individual, who had an international arrest warrant for drug trafficking, money laundering, and possession of a weapon, was flying from Istanbul.

In order to be able to enter Portugal illegally, the person presented himself at the border control with a foreign identification document issued by the UK.

“After collecting the biometric data and consulting the databases available to the SEF, it triggered a positive alert about an individual in the Interpol database. Subsequently, several steps were taken in order to confirm the identity of the citizen and the validity of the alert,” the authorities explained.

The detained person is on the list of the most wanted criminals in his country.