An illegal immigrant who arrived in the UK by boat and pretended to be a youngster in order to remain in the country is really in his mid-20s and had even joined an over-30s dating club before being discovered because of his grey hairs and beard.
Before social workers’ suspicions grew, Aria Ibrahimi, who is now thought to be 25 years old, pretended to be 16 years old in order to be taken into care by Kent County Council as a juvenile.
Ibrahimi, an Iranian national, entered the UK alone in May 2020 and said that she was 16 years old, a claim that the Home Office did not contest.
According to The Sun, he is now in danger of being deported as a result of social workers testifying at a Home Office hearing.
Ibrahim “had a few grey hairs,” according to one person who estimated his age to be in his late 20s or early 30s.
His “facial features were fixed and lacked the soft characteristics of a youngster,” it was said.
He even joined lists of singles between the ages of 19 and 25 and dating clubs for those in the 30 to 55 age range.
A social worker said at the trial that Ibrahimi accessed university-related social media groups and claimed to be from 1997 in an online discussion while really being from 2003.
Ibrahim was sent to Home Office adult housing with the possibility of deportation in January 2021 when the social workers’ concerns became apparent.
The Upper Tribunal Judge Susan Kebede agreed that he was born on September 20, 1997, and she denied his request for a judicial review.
Assessors also called attention to a number of holes in Ibrahim’s account of how he arrived in Britain.
Ibrahim may be seen carrying a piece of paper with the emblem of The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PDKI), an organisation of Kurdish nationalists that opposes the Iranian government, in one photograph.
To “achieve Kurdish national rights within a federal and democratic Iran,” according to the group’s mission statement.
Another image shows him opposing execution in Iran next to the Iranian embassy in London.