Over 70 Syrian refugees seeking asylum in Portugal

A total of 74 Syrians who flew into Portugal from Guinea Bissau with fake passports on Tuesday are seeking asylum in Portugal.

The group of Syrians flew to Portugal on TAP airlines and were allowed to board the plane because Gunea Bissau's authorities threatened the flight crew, according to local media reports.

Portugal's immigration control bureau SEF will hear all the asylum seekers separately.

The Syrians are reported to have arrived in Portugal with fake Turkish passports, which enabled them to travel through Turkey and Morocco to Guinea Bissau, where they got the TP202 plane to Lisbon.

Amid a bloody and barbarous civil war, tens of thousands of Syrians with enough money to afford it are trying to get to Northern Europe, lured by their lenient refugee policies and living conditions.

According to Portuguese news agency Lusa, there are 21 children, 15 women and 38 men sheltered in social security centers and Catholic charity facilities.

Portuguese flag carrier TAP has now suspended all flights to Guinea Bissau until a full security assessment has been completed. The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also discourages any travel to the West African country.

The Portuguese government had already discouraged travel to its former colonial capital, as the country fails to recover from a 2012 coup which overthrew the government in April last year.

President of the Portuguese Refugee Council (CRP) Tita Morais said the asylum appeals could take up to two months to be processed. She said if their requests were rejected they could appeal against the decision to leave the country.

She said Portugal should share Europe's responsibility of helping Syrian victims.