Swedish migration chief's ID talk hit by ID problem

Set to testify before parliament on the efficiency of migrant ID checks, the head of the Swedish Migration Agency was turned away by guards unable to match his government ID with any of the names on their list, officials said.

Director General Anders Danielsson had been invited to the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, to talk about the systematic photo ID checks put in place on January 4 to stem an unprecedented flow of migrants to Sweden from Denmark.

But "he was not on the list of invited people and identification was not enough," said Migration Agency spokesperson Alexandra Elias.

Danielsson was forced to make several phone calls to friends and colleagues inside the Riksdag who could vouch for his identity before the issue was finally cleared up and he was allowed to enter, according to the Migration Agency.

Sweden, which is home to 9.8 million people, is one of the European Union countries that has taken in the largest number of refugees in relation to its population. Sweden accepted more than 160,000 asylum seekers last year.

But the number of migrants arrivals has dropped dramatically since Sweden enacted systematic photo ID checks on travellers on January 4.