Suspected terrorist Abdesalem Lassoued, 45, had a fake passport in 2012 when police arrested him for drug offences. With a different spelling of his name, without a beard and of Romanian origin, he applied for asylum.
– I paid 3,000 euros for it, he says in questioning at the time.
Abdesalem Lassoued was arrested in Sweden in 2012. Among the police’s seizures were 100 grams of cocaine, push-button phones, a car and a Romanian passport.
A forensic examination was made of the passport and it was concluded that the passport document, apart from the personal side, corresponds well with a genuine reference passport.
However, you could see that the passport had been taken apart, and that a new personal page had been inserted, which, according to the forensic officer, is a “well-made imitation”.
“It’s fake, I claim it. I bought it in France and paid 3,000 euros for it,” says Abdesalem Lassoued at the time of questioning.
From Tunisia
Abdesalem Lassoued is actually from Tunisia. According to Express information, he has stated that he left his home country because he was sentenced to 27 years in prison for impregnating a woman of the same age. He was pardoned after nine years and went to Europe in 2011 and Sweden in 2012.
In the fake passport, where he has no beard, his name is “Abdesslem Laswad” instead of Abdesalem Lassoued.
Lassoued says in an interrogation in 2012 that he was in Sweden for seven months, with the exception of a visit to Norway.
Interrogator: Why are you using a fake passport?
“Because I don’t have a residence permit in Europe. I had not intended to come to Sweden. I had permission to stay in Italy for 6 months. I went from Italy to Norway to seek asylum,” he says in the interrogation.
In 2012, Lassoued was sentenced to two years and two months in prison for serious drug offences. He was also banned from returning to Sweden for seven years.