Asylum seekers posed as Somalis

IMMIGRATION authorities have uncovered a scam involving African asylum seekers, who claim to be from Somalia.

Three out of five were found to have lied about their background.

The applicants are posing as Somalis to boost their chances of being granted refugee status because they are less likely to be deported back to the war-torn country.

But a check on the background of a targeted group over the past six months has established that the majority of them were from neighbouring countries. The check was carried out using the Eurodac fingerprint system and visa databases established in the UK.

The nationality breakdown of the 'Somali' asylum seekers showed that 44 -- or two-fifths of the original batch -- were from Tanzania, eight from Somalia, six from Kenya, three from Yemen, and one each from Ethiopia and Djibouti.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/asylum-seekers-posed-as-somalis-1910835.html