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German police check identities of refugees from North Africa

Xinhua, April 12, 2016 Adjust font size:

German police and immigration authorities began to check identities of refugees from North Africa early Tuesday morning in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), local media reported.

The NRW police, the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), and the respective local immigration authorities conducted the inspection in 33 NRW municipalities at around 6:00 a.m. local time, German broadcaster Westdeutscher Rundfunk reported.

"We want to legally clarify the residence status of refugees from Algeria and Morocco with this nationwide action," a spokesman for the Arnsberg district government was quoted as saying.

There had been difficulties in establishing identity in the past, he said, adding the residence status in many cases had not been clarified.

According to the Arnsberg district government, it is possible to exclude multiple identities by detecting the biometric data of the refugees.

Since early March, all newly arriving refugees to NRW are officially registered. However, those who had already arrived to NRW had not been. With the inspection on Tuesday, they would be registered in the same way. Enditem