Soland avoids prosecution in passports probe

ASTON VILLA midfielder Nolberto Solano will not face prosecution over alleged passport irregularities following a four-year investigation.

Northumbria Police yesterday confirmed the 30-year-old Peruvian international, who was caught up in a scandal back in 2001 during his time at Newcastle, has been cleared of any wrongdoing.

Solano arrived on Tyneside in a £2.5million transfer from Argentinian club Boca Juniors in August 1998 and was awarded a work permit. However, he later successfully applied for a Greek passport, for which he qualified through his grandmother, meaning that when his permit expired, he did not need to apply for another.

But in August 2001, he found himself targeted in a wide-ranging Immigration Service investigation into the use of false documents to obtain EC passports.