Posted by Ajibola Sadiq on
Nigerian bought forged passport to get work A NIGERIAN who had outstayed his six-month holiday visa paid £300 for a forged passport to help him earn enough money to return home.
Nigerian bought forged passport to get work
A NIGERIAN who had outstayed his six-month holiday visa paid £300 for a forged passport to help him earn enough money to return home.
Unfortunately for Ajibola Sadiq, police officers came to a house in Ferry Road Avenue, Pilton, where he was staying, looking for a previous occupant.
Fiscal depute Gillian More told Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this month that the officers checked his papers and discovered the expired visa. They then found a forged South African passport, which Sadiq admitted belonged to him. He told the officers he had paid £300 for it.
The 38-year-old said he had come to Britain last November, and spent a week in London before visiting friends in Edinburgh and deciding to stay on.
However, he ran out of money to pay for his return home and was having difficulty in getting work because of lack of identification.
His lawyer said that "a friend of a friend" told him he had a passport which would give him the right to work. He was anxious to go home as his mother was ill.
Sheriff Kenneth Maciver jailed Sadiq, who pleaded guilty to being in possession of the false passport, for eight months yesterday. Deportation papers have already been served on him.