Illegal immigrant betrayed by England T-shirt

A SENEGALESE man attempted to elude police officers at a Nicosia checkpoint last Sunday by claiming he was a Frenchman – but was caught out because he was wearing an England football jersey.

Asylum seeker Diop Cheikh M’backe from Senegal was arrested at the Ledra Palace checkpoint on Sunday afternoon after he attempted to cross over into the south from the north using a false French passport bearing the name Louis Gomis.

A police source told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that one of the custom officers became suspicious when they noticed the man say that he was French but was wearing an England football jersey.

“Being a football fan, the officer found it highly unlikely that a Frenchman would want to wear an England football jersey. That was his first suspicion before the proper check on his passport which turned out to be fake,” added the same source.

The suspect was immediately placed under arrest and taken to Nicosia CID.

Officials from the French Embassy were called to the station where they confirmed that the man’s passport was a forgery.

M’backe later told investigating officers that he had brought the passport off a Cameroonian man in the north for £200.

Still wearing his England top, the suspect told the court yesterday that he did not know that the passport he had was fake, prompting a response from Judge Charalambos Charalambous who asked him, “Didn’t you at least get suspicious when you saw the name on the passport was different to your own. Do you not know your own name either?”

M’backe did not answer.

Judge Charalambous ordered that the man be held in remand for six days in light of the early police investigations.