Greece: criminal group involved in forged travel documents dismantled

By Magda Panoutsopoulou

ATHENS (AA) - An illegal smuggling criminal network in Athens and shops that produced fraudulent travel documents were dismantled by the Attica Aliens division of Greek police in cooperation with Europol, a statement said Friday.

The criminal group of 11 people -- three Palestinians, three Latvians, two Iranians, two Syrians and one Lebanese -- were active since September, according to Europol.

Authorities seized 4,650 illegal documents as well as high-quality electronic equipment to produce forged documents for four shops.

The shops involved in the forgery used intermediaries to avoid having contact with irregular migrant customers or other criminal groups that are involved.

The group used high-quality equipment to produce false travel and identification documents for between €400 to €1200 ($438 to $1,313).

The forged documents enabled illegal migrants to travel across Europe and legalize their stay in their country of destination.

Europol said the documents were difficult to detect as being false while the group organized smuggling by air for €6,000 per person.

More than 50 connected cases of smuggling by air have been investigated from September to February 2024, according to Europol.