'Child' migrant stopped at Swedish border was actually woman, 60

‘Child’ migrant stopped at Swedish border is actually a SIXTY-YEAR-OLD woman

  • Woman in her sixties, who lives in bordering Denmark, had claimed she was a child so she could get around Sweden’s strict border controls
  • The woman had said she was under 18 so she could visit her mother in Sweden
  • She was stopped by officer Linnea Lokind at Öresund bridge border in Malmö
  • Under current coronavirus restrictions, travelers with foreign passports can only enter Sweden for specific reasons – including children visiting their parents 

A ‘child migrant’ who was stopped at the Swedish border was in fact a woman in her sixties who had lied about her age so she could visit her mother.

The woman, who lives in bordering Denmark, had claimed she was a child so that she could get around Sweden’s strict border controls.

Under current coronavirus restrictions, travelers with foreign passports can only enter Sweden for specific reasons, which includes children under the age of 18 visiting their parents. 

The woman in her sixties attempted to use this loophole when she arrived at the Öresund bridge border near Malmö – but to no avail. 

A 'child migrant' who was stopped at the Swedish border was in fact a woman in her sixties who had lied about her age so she could visit her mother. Pictured: The Oresund Bridge border

A ‘child migrant’ who was stopped at the Swedish border was in fact a woman in her sixties who had lied about her age so she could visit her mother. Pictured: The Oresund Bridge border

Linnea Lokind, a border police officer, stopped the woman and was forced to tell her she was in fact more than 40 years too old. 

‘I had to explain to her that she stopped being a child when she was 18,’ Lokind told Swedish broadcaster SVT.   

Sweden has imposed strict border rules for Norway and Denmark where the UK coronavirus strain has already been detected, with people only being allowed to enter the country for specific reasons – including urgent family issues and children visiting their parents.

The rules have caused confusion for people who live in Norway and Denmark but work in Sweden, who say they are now facing issues when trying to cross. 

Søren Andersen, who lives in Denmark but must cross the border for work, said the current rules are ‘not clear’. 

He said: ‘The rules are not so clear to those of us who are not tourists. If I don’t come in, it’ll be a long journey for nothing.’ 

The woman in her sixties attempted to use this loophole when she arrived at the Öresund bridge border in Malmö - but to no avail. Linnea Lokind, a border police officer, (pictured) stopped the woman and was forced to tell her she was in fact more than 40 years too old.

The woman in her sixties attempted to use this loophole when she arrived at the Öresund bridge border in Malmö – but to no avail. Linnea Lokind, a border police officer, (pictured) stopped the woman and was forced to tell her she was in fact more than 40 years too old.

Swedish border police have turned away more than 8,000 people from the Sweden-Denmark border since the border controls began on December 22. 

‘People come here and try to make their own interpretation of the law,’ said Mats Berggren, chief of border police operations at the Öresund Bridge.

He revealed border police may usually stop 100 people a week from entering Sweden – but now that number has surged to around 1,000 a week. 

‘That is a very high number. Absolutely most people try to get over on weekends,’ added Berggren. Most of those who are stopped at the border are Danish.        

Sweden, which has spurned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, has seen the rate of new infections dip in recent weeks, though cases of the British COVID-19 variant have been increasing. 

On Wednesday, the Public Health Agency said it had registered 4,310 new COVID cases and 124 new deaths. In total, Sweden has had 580,916 confirmed cases and 11,939 deaths. 

Sweden’s death rate per capita is several times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours, but lower than several European countries that opted for lockdowns. 

source: dailymail.co.uk