A man who was stopped at Liverpool airport with a copy of an Irish identity card was sent by the authorities there to Dublin where he applied for asylum, Dublin District Court heard yesterday.
Rufu Gmbalia, who claims to be Nigerian, was ordered to be held in prison until next week, pending an application to return him to the first European country he arrived in.
The court was told he travelled from Belfast to Liverpool airport last Monday with a copy of an Irish immigration office identity card in the name of another man.
Liverpool authorities put him on an aircraft to Dublin where he denied he was the man on the copied ID card and said his name was Rufu Gmbalia from Nigeria. He said he travelled by ship over the previous fortnight from Nigeria with the assistance of a man whom he was unable to name.
He applied for asylum and was held under the Refugee Act until yesterday when an application to extend his detention was made. Judge Miriam Malone extended it and remanded him to appear at Cloverhill District Court on August 10th.