A Nigerian couple appeared in court on charges related to illegal migration after being apprehended at the airport while attempting to leave Malta for Italy with their three-year-old daughter.

Standing before Magistrate Victor Axiak, the 29-year-old woman and her 31-year-old partner were accused of possession and use of forged passports and providing false statements to migration authorities.

The police inspector explained that the couple, along with their child, was attempting to board a flight to Naples using fraudulent documents.

It was revealed that they arrived in Malta in 2020, and their asylum application was rejected, along with the subsequent appeal. Financial difficulties prompted them to try to leave the country, resorting to the use of fake documents.

The mother was granted provisional liberty on a personal guarantee of €20,000, however, the father was remanded in custody.