Police bust counterfeit travel document gang

Following a months-long investigation that also involved the cooperation of Europol, police have busted a criminal gang and seized some 4,650 counterfeit travel documents that were intended to facilitate illegal migration.

Eleven people were arrested as part of the investigation, with police believing that they facilitated at least 50 cases of human smuggling and illegal migration.

Those arrested include three Palestinians, three Latvians, two Iraqis, two Syrians and one Lebanese national.

Along with the thousands of counterfeit documents, 10 high-grade laser printers and more than €20,000 in cash were confiscated.

According to Europol, the criminal organization began operations in September 2023 and used sophisticated, hi-tech equipment to produce “high quality counterfeit travel and identification documents,” which rendered them extremely difficult to detect.

These documents were sold to migrants to enable them to illegally travel around Greece and across Europe, with prices ranging from €400 to €1,200.

Europol believes that the group’s activities were particularly lucrative, as the documents found have a street value of some €600,000, while the gang would also organize flights for an additional €6,000 per person.

The counterfeit documents had the supposed origin of many European states, including Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Norway, and Ukraine, while some of them were also of Colombian origin.

Europol says that the counterfeiters would rarely directly meet their clients or similar criminal organizations, but would cooperate with them to exchange information as well as counterfeiting resources and material.