Filenews 23 August 2021 - by Dora Christodoulou
An unexpected problem, which is already assuming serious proportions, is being faced by the Security Authorities of the Republic regarding the air connection between Paphos and France. The flights, that have been operated for some time now on a continuous basis from Paphos airport to Paris and Marseille, have contributed to the appearance in almost every passport check before departure, of people of African origin equipped with false travel documents in order to travel to France as European citizens.
In just two months, the Police located and arrested more than 25 people. In all cases, those arrested came from African countries, mainly Congo and Nigeria, were in possession of travel documents that were genuine, but belonged to other persons and attempted to leave for France pretending to be European citizens. All those arrested after their arrest admit by interrogating that the travel documents did not belong to them. Sometimes they bought them in the occupied areas from members of a circuit, others claim that they found them by accident, after the loss by their rightful owners, and other times that they were given to them by known people.
The authorities have been placed on increased alert anyway during the days of the flights from Paphos to France, since it is now obvious that African nationals who are either in Cyprus awaiting the examination of their applications for recognition of political refugee status, or arrive illegally in the areas controlled by the Republic through occupied territories, are trying to take advantage of the low cost of flights from Paphos airport to French airports. Meanwhile, four days of detention of the two men arrested on Saturday at Larnaka airport was ordered yesterday by the district court.
The two men of African descent, aged 25 and 20, were arrested at the airport for circulating a forged document and for impersonation. Moreover, on the occasion of the incidents, the Police characterizes as frequent the phenomenon of arrest of people for fake passports at Cypriot airports. The vast majority of them are foreigners from African countries, who attempt to travel from Cyprus to European countries.
