Greece arrests man carrying Iraqi passport stolen by ISIS

An Iraqi Kurdish man has been arrested at Athens airport in possession of a passport known to have been among a haul of official documents stolen by ISIS militants in Iraq, Greek police said Monday.

The 37-year-old was detained after flying in from the Turkish city of Istanbul Sunday, police said in a statement.

The passport was one of a batch of blank travel documents seized by ISIS fighters during a raid in Nineveh province, and subsequently cancelled by Iraqi authorities, the statement added. Police did not say when the raid took place.

Greek police routinely uncover false or illegal travel documents among migrants hoping to reach northern or western Europe.

Security concerns in Europe are high after revelations that some of the extremists behind the Paris attacks in November slipped into Europe by posing as refugees.

A European Union report compiled in November said Greece was failing to properly register and fingerprint migrants, but Athens insists the situation has drastically improved with the arrival of additional EU staff and registering equipment.

[AFP]