LONDON: A man who tried to board a plane from the UK to Egypt using a fraudulent 鈥渇it-to-fly鈥� coronavirus (COVID-19) certificate has been fined, but avoided going to prison.

Emmanuel Nere Mehari, 27, attempted to fly from London Heathrow Airport to Egypt on April 12 to visit a sick relative but was stopped by airport officials who discovered his fake document.

Mehari was charged with possessing or controlling an article for use in fraud. He was fined SR938 ($250), sentenced to a 12-month community order along with 180 hours of unpaid work after a court hearing on Tuesday.

Heathrow authorities initially allowed Mehari to board the plane after they followed up with the clinic that allegedly provided the certificate. But authorities were soon contacted again to confirm Mehari had not attended the clinic and that the document had been altered or was fraudulent.

According to court hearings, Mehari claimed he did not realize a certificate or a negative COVID-19 test was needed to fly, .

It is illegal to travel abroad from the UK under its COVID-19 lockdown rules, except in special circumstances, which include visiting a dying relative. Passengers must provide either a negative COVID-19 test or a 鈥渇it-to-fly鈥� certificate.

Prosecuting lawyer Jyothi Somavarapu said the check-in desk assistant did not recognize Mehari鈥檚 certificate and that he could not answer basic questions about the origins of the document.

Mehari was 鈥渦nable to answer her questions and started to become argumentative,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e was unable to prove where the test certificate had come from and did not have an email.鈥�

Somavarapu added that the consequences of Mehari鈥檚 actions 鈥渃ould have been disastrous.鈥�

Sarj Patel, the defending lawyer, said Mehari wanted to visit Egypt to care for his sick cousin but was 鈥渘ot aware at all鈥� that a certificate was required to travel until it was too late and 鈥渂egan to panic鈥� when confronted.

鈥淚n that moment of desperation, Mehari just made a foolish decision to go along with someone who was attempting to help him,鈥� Patel said. 鈥淗e did not even look at the certificate and it was a decision made minutes before he presented it to the desk assistant. He was involved through exploitation by another.鈥�

Mehari had failed to 鈥渟afeguard others鈥� during the pandemic but was 鈥渞emorseful鈥� for his actions, Patel added.

鈥淭hat charge and that incident could have caused a lot of harm to a lot of people,鈥� said magistrate Inder Birdi, who passed the sentence. 鈥淚t is aggravated by the pandemic.鈥�