Mum jailed for smuggling boyfriend into UK on Ryanair flight with faux passport
The unnamed man took out his real passport and applied for asylum in Dublin after border officials questioned his documents, as the mum was arrested and jailed for five weeks after being refused bail
A young woman who tried to smuggle her boyfriend with a fake passport into the UK via Dublin Airport spent five weeks in jail on remand while he walked free and applied for asylum in Ireland, a court has heard. Aleksandra Suchodolksda, 24, who lives in Leeds, received a two-month suspended sentence yesterday.
The young mum-of-two brought her “on-off” Albanian partner from Spain to Dublin with plans to catch a connecting flight to England. The pair had agreed to meet up in Barcelona, which Suchodolksda assumed was a birthday “surprise”.
However, after Dublin Airport officials quizzed the unnamed man about his documents, he took out his real passport and applied for asylum in Ireland as Suchodolksda was arrested and refused bail. Upon hearing the facts of the case, Judge John Hughes remarked: “How the cookie crumbles”.
The Polish mum pleaded guilty at Dublin District Court to an offence under the Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Act 2021 for assisting unlawful entry into the State. She had been in custody on remand since being arrested at Terminal 1 by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) on November 27 last year.
Judge Hughes noted the Director of Public Prosecutions directed summary disposal of the case in the District Court rather than sending it to the Circuit Court, which has broader sentencing powers. After hearing an outline of the evidence, he accepted jurisdiction and her guilty plea.
Irish police officer Yang Meng told the court the accused and an Albanian man arrived at Dublin Airport as passengers on a Ryanair flight from Barcelona.
They presented at passport patrol and the accused showed her Polish passport. However, the man was questioned when he produced a fake Polish passport. He subsequently produced his Albanian passport and then claimed asylum.
Officer Meng said they had met previously in England and had been in an on-off relationship; he returned to Albania in August, but they remained in contact, reports DublinLive.
The GNIB officer said the unnamed man went to Spain in November. They said: “And he asked her to meet him in Barcelona and she believed that was her birthday present, you know, a surprise.”
Suchodolksda flew out on November 26 to meet him and booked flights to return a day later to the UK via a connecting flight at Dublin Airport.
The court heard that while she knew the name on his false passport was incorrect, she did not think he would apply for asylum.
The court heard he has since been processed for international protection but was never charged and remained at liberty. Meanwhile, Suchodolksda was refused bail because she was a flight risk.
Pleading for leniency, defence solicitor Tracy Horan said her client would end up with a conviction and she was “extremely distraught” and had not been able to be with her children for Christmas.
Ms Horan said her client was in “awful turmoil”; she had assumed her boyfriend would fly with her, but instead, he applied for asylum in Dublin.
Judge Hughes said it was a serious offence but gave her credit for the guilty plea and noted the mitigation, her age and personal circumstances and that she had been incarcerated since the arrest.
Suchodolksda hugged her solicitor after the judge finalised her case and she was set free after signing a bond to be of good behaviour.
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