A 26-year-old Vietnamese woman who left her two-week-old baby in Vietnam to travel to Europe using another person’s passport was jailed for six months on Monday.

Nguyen Thi Hanh was among a group of people who were arrested at the airport on 2 September.

Inspector Karl Roberts charged Hanh before Magistrate Claire Stafrace Zammit with being in possession of and using a passport that had been issued to another person. She was also accused of making a false representation to the Principal Immigration Officer.

Lawyer Luke Valletta, representing the woman as legal aid counsel entered a guilty plea on her behalf.

Inspector Roberts told the court that such cases had become all too common, describing the visa-issuing situation as “almost a racket.”

The court agreed, noting that even though custodial sentences were being routinely handed out, “they keep on coming.”

Valletta told the court that the woman had only recently given birth to a daughter in Vietnam and argued for a suspended sentence, coupled with an immediate deportation order.

He told the court that it was “a well-known fact” that Malta is the easiest place where to obtain a Schengen visa. Hanh had told the police that she had intended to travel onwards to Budapest, he explained, adding that she had left her newborn child in her mother’s care, back in Vietnam.

Magistrate Stafrace Zammit warned the defendant that if she were to confirm her guilty plea, she would be handed a prison sentence, after which she would be deported.

The admission of guilt was confirmed.

The court jailed the woman for 6 months, the minimum punishment applicable in the circumstances.