![\"Panoramic](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/2_Exterior-sign-at-Terminal-2-at-Dublin-Airport.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA UK based healthcare worker has been refused bail after being accused of using a ‘lookalike’ document to smuggle a woman into Ireland through Dublin Airport.<\/p>\n
The woman was arrested at Terminal 2 on Friday (file photo)(Image: Alan Currie via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
A UK-based healthcare assistant has been refused bail following her Dublin Airport <\/a>arrest for smuggling a woman into Ireland with a Swedish “lookalike” document to claim asylum.<\/p>\n Muna Mohamed Sharif (47), with an address at Bodmin Grove, Birmingham, England, was arrested at Terminal 2 on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n The Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB)<\/a> charged her under sections 6 and 8 of the Criminal Justice (Smuggling of Persons) Act 2021.<\/p>\n She is accused of assisting another woman with unlawful entry into, transit across, or presence in the State, and of providing a fraudulent travel or identity document for that purpose.<\/p>\n On Saturday, she appeared at Dublin District Court<\/a> before Judge David McHugh, who noted the evidence that she allegedly facilitated entry into the State illegally, and he held that she was a flight risk.<\/p>\n Detective Garda Kerrie O’Sullivan said Ms Sharif was arrested at 2.10 pm and “made no reply” to the charges, which are punishable by a maximum 10-year prison term.<\/p>\n The GNIB detective alleged that the accused and the woman who was brought into the country separately presented themselves to immigration officers.<\/p>\n However, she added that the airport officials “saw that they made eye contact with each other and later discovered, during the detention, that Ms Sharif had supplied the injured party with a Swedish lookalike document”.<\/p>\n The court heard she made admissions.<\/p>\n Detective Garda O’Sullivan said her phone contained correspondence with the lawful owner of the passport discussing a fee for the use of the travel document.<\/p>\n The woman using it was from Somalia and has now claimed asylum, the court heard.<\/p>\n Cross-examined by defence counsel Paddy Flynn, the detective agreed that the accused has lived in the UK since 2002, has British citizenship, and her only passport has been seized.<\/p>\n She also acknowledged that Ms Sharif was cooperative but did not believe that was indicative that she would attend her court proceedings if released on bail.<\/p>\n Counsel conceded that she did not have rigid ties to this country but argued that a lack of an address here was not a barrier to bail.<\/p>\n Mr Flynn explained that he had been instructed that his client had friends in Ireland who could be contacted from her phone.<\/p>\n However, the GNIB detective did not think she had connections to Ireland and also said the accused was “very elusive about her friends”.<\/p>\n Counsel portrayed that elusiveness as a sign of “greenness,” showing his client thought she was helping, but the detective did not accept that either.<\/p>\n Cash was also seized from her, but the amount was not revealed during the contested bail hearing.<\/p>\n Mr Flynn told the court that in similar cases, \u20ac1,000 cash bail has been granted, subject to conditions to furnish an address, reside in the State, and sign on regularly at a garda station<\/a>.<\/p>\n The officer disagreed that it would take a lengthy period to obtain directions from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).<\/p>\n Text messages need to be translated, counsel pointed out, and he argued that it could take several months.<\/p>\n He submitted that although she was not a citizen, she enjoyed the right to liberty under Irish law. Strict conditions would have to be introduced, and a cash amount should be considered.<\/p>\n The court heard that she had obtained UK citizenship and was due back at work next week.<\/p>\n Ruling on the bail application, he said that where a person faces a serious charge and has no significant ties to the country, the risk of flight is exponentially increased.<\/p>\n Judge McHugh granted legal aid and remanded her in custody pending directions from the DPP. She is scheduled to appear again on Friday.<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A UK based healthcare worker has been refused bail after being accused of using a ‘lookalike’ document to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393700,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[45,54,11900,7782,61,60,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-393699","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-an-garda-siochana","9":"tag-courts","10":"tag-dublin-airport","11":"tag-gardai","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}