Zafar thought he had done the hard bit. He had travelled from Afghanistan across mainland Europe to France, then survived a perilous Channel crossing on a small boat. But it was the final leg to Ireland that proved his undoing and ended with him in the back of a prison van.
Irish police officers believe that after applying for refugee status in the UK he was on his way to do so again in Dublin, a move that could enable him to claim a further set of more generous benefits.
Yet thanks to a police operation at the Irish border, Zafar did not reach the International Protection Office (IPO) in Dublin to lodge his application.
