Romanians jailed for false passports

FOUR Romanian men were jailed for 15 months yesterday for possession of forged Hungarian passports, with intention of travelling to Ireland to work.

Defendants Beniamin Pop, 39, Dumitru Illisou, 30, Viorel Chira, 39, and Andrian Ioan Miresan, 32, were arrested on arrival at Larnaca airport when officials noticed the passports were forged.

The prosecution told the court the men had paid hundreds of dollars to acquire the passports with which they had travelled from Budapest to Larnaca. They were planning to fly on to Dublin next.

The four Romanians were arrested on September 7 by immigration officers during a routine passport check.

Passing sentence, Judge Nicos Santis said such offenses were on the rise and posed a threat to society.

Entering Cyprus by deceiving the authorities was an abuse of hospitality, and the imposition of such punishments would act as deterrent, he said.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.