The mum of a Shamrock Rovers fan who was detained in Bulgaria says she is "worried sick" for her son.
Tallaght man Daniel Fulham is currently locked up in jail after Bulgarian border officials wrongly accused him of carrying a fake passport saying his ID photo didn't match him. The 28-year-old was in a bus full of Rovers supporters when he was detained at the Bulgarian-Romanian border on Wednesday morning.
Worried mum Noeleen told Dublin Live: "These officers took him off the bus on early Wednesday morning. Two of his friends got off with him and the officers who had guns.
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"They detained him. Now they have arrested him."
Daniel is well known in the Rovers community after volunteering as the team's mascot, Hooperman, for years. Noeleen said she's worried sick about her beloved son who has had a difficult few years.
A tearful Noeleen said: "There isn’t an ounce of badness in him. He’s never gotten into trouble. I’m worried for him because he’s gotten through an awful lot."
His passport photo was taken after he came out of hospital but he never had issues while travelling to places. Noeleen said: "He's been to Australia with it too.
"He went to Malta last week. He got into Bulgaria with no problems, but they detained him when he was leaving."
Noeleen, with the help of Fianna Fail's Charlie O'Connor, Sinn Fein's Eoin Ryan, and the Superintendent in Tallaght sent the Embassy of Bulgaria documents proving the passport was authentic. "They’re looking for the confirmation of the photograph that it’s Daniel so we’ve sent all his student cards, birth cert, etc.
"The passport office even confirmed it as Daniel. They still won't let him go. It's disgraceful."
Sinn Fein TD Chris Andrews told Dublin Live: “It is not acceptable that somebody would be held up like that. He is out there with a group of Rovers supporters and he had only come back from Malta using the same passport so I don’t believe there is any legitimacy in him being held.
"They need to release him as a matter of urgency and the Minister for Foreign Affairs should intervene and ensure that Dan is repatriated as a matter of urgency.”
Deputy Andrews knows Dan‘s friends and family and said: “He is a lovely young fella. His mother does a lot of work with the Tree of Hope - planting trees for people who have died by suicide.
"There is no way he would be up to any shenanigans. He is a hardcore Rovers support and he used to do Hooperman [the team’s mascot] for years. He was great.”
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A spokesperson for Shamrock Rovers Football Club: "A Shamrock Rovers fan was held by Bulgarian border police when he was making the return journey to Bucharest with a group of other Hoops fans who had travelled to Razgard for the Champions league qualifier v Ludogorets on Tuesday night.
"Daniel Fulham is a long-standing club member and volunteer who has made many international journeys in his working and social life with the same passport as was presented to the border police.
"It is understood that the authorities questioned the validity of the photograph in matching Daniel's identity. The Department of Foreign Affairs are liaising on the matter in which there is no doubt about the validity of the passport, and we hope to see the matter closed as quickly as possible for Daniel to return home."
A spokeswoman from the Department of Foreign Affairs said: "The Department of Foreign Affairs is aware of reports and is providing consular assistance."
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