Rabat – Sixty-five Moroccans have applied for asylum in Sweden with false documents, reports Swedish news website Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).
False identities are a major problem with Moroccan asylum seekers in Sweden, says the site, adding that, based on a memo issued by the border police, out of a total of 77 Moroccan nationals who recently arrived in Sweden, 65 were proven to have false documentation. Additionally, out of 50 who claimed to be underage, only two were found to be minors.
In the first four months of 2017, 7,272 applied for asylum in Sweden, while 2016 saw a total of 28,939 applications.
The memo says that border police in Sweden have for the first time been able to compare the identities of the persons to be deported and fingerprints that the person left at home, noting that many have forged documents coming to the border without documentation, providing the police with fake names and birth dates.
“Although it is a small sample and of a specific nationality, and despite the limitations, it is the first time we have been able to verify the alleged identities and ages, thanks to the system of fingerprints found in Morocco,” police chief Patrik Engström wrote in the memo.
Engström added that the authorities run into problems when asylum seekers who claim they are Moroccans do not show up in the fingerprint database.
“It could be that the person is not Moroccan,” he continued. “Then we have to go back and make a new investigation of nationality, which can be lengthy and complicated.”
Engström went on to add that false identification is an issue as migrants could commit crimes under someone else’s name.
