Obama's half brother refused British visa: report
AFP on Yahoo | 4/11/09 | AFP
LONDON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama's half brother was refused a visa to enter Britain because he had been accused of a serious crime on a previous visit, it was reported Saturday.
Samson Obama was stopped by immigration officials at East Midlands Airport in January on his way to Washington for the president's inauguration, the Sunday newspaper News of the World reported, according to advance excerpts.
Biometric tests alerted the authorities that Samson, a Kenyan mobile phone shop manager, had previously been arrested by police in Berkshire.
That arrest followed an alleged sex attack on a British girl two months earlier although he was never charged
A Home Office spokesman confirmed Samson was refused a visa after immigration officers noticed that one of the documents he supplied with his visa application was false which led them to make further inquiries.
A Border Agency spokesman said: "We consider all visa applications based on their merits.
"We will oppose the entry of individuals to the UK where we believe their presence is not conducive to the public good.
"The UK's border controls are among the toughest in the world. All visa applicants are fingerprinted and checked against watch lists.
"Using this hi-tech system we have detected more than 5,600 attempts to use false identities since December 2007.