So there you are, minding your own business and trying not to get deported.

Tesfaldet Tesloy went to Sweden six years ago to live with his brother who has lived in the country for 20 years. But in 2006, Tesloy received word that his application for a residence permit had been rejected and he was scheduled for deportation. He didn’t go. Just to rub it in to the Swedish authorities, they can hardly claim that they couldn’t find him as the 28 year old turned up on national television last Saturday to collect a 1.2 million kronor ($167,000/£100,000) lottery prize.

He explained to Lasse Bengtsson, host of the TV4 morning news magazine programme Nyhetsmorgon lördag, that he feared he could be deported “at any time”. However the police decided not to bother. Collecting his first payment of 10,000 kronor a month for the next ten years, he learned from Bengtsson that he need not worry about being sent back to Eritrea. The producers had contacted the authorities about his status but Alf Isaksson of the Stockholm police said “it’s very hard to send someone back to Eritrea.”

When asked whether or not the police might now try to act on Tesloy’s case following his appearance on television, Isaksson said he didn’t expect much to happen. “There’s no one who cares about him, I’m convinced of that,” he said, according to a statement read by Bengtsson.

Tesloy, who is unable to work because he lacks proper documentation, said his winnings would help him “realize his dreams”. Despite not having a Swedish personal identity number (personnummer), Tesloy said he had managed to obtain a bank account, and could therefore receive the money awarded to him by Sweden’s gaming monopoly Svenska Spel, which operates the Triss scratch game.

He told the Reuters news agency he plans to use his winnings to pursue a licence to practice physical therapy. Running from the law obviously was part of the training for that.
 
It would have sent a big message to illegal immigrants everywhere if they’d cuffed him live on television for the nation to watch.