Trafficking in false identity documents dismantled in twenty departments

A network manufacturing false identity documents in 20 departments has been dismantled, the Office for Combating Illicit Trafficking of Migrants (Oltim) announced to AFP on Tuesday January 30. Three men, a Frenchman and two Algerians, were indicted and imprisoned Monday evening. Arrested a week ago in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), Grenoble (Isère) and Rosny-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), in possession of several French identities, they are being prosecuted for helping to stay in a gang organized, providing and improperly obtaining false documents.

The network made it possible, thanks to the creation of false birth certificates from around twenty different municipalities, to obtain real French documents. Some of the “customers” had made up to eight requests for different identities. More than 75 cases of fraud have been detected throughout France by Oltim investigators, who estimate the counterfeiters’ gains between 200,000 and 480,000 euros.

For 1,700 to 8,000 euros per person, they provided false documents, made appointments in the civil offices of small towns and provided the candidate with useful advice. The investigation, which began nine months ago with a report in Anglet (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), then the opening of a judicial investigation in Bayonne, mobilized 34 police officers for the arrests, specialists in documentary fraud and cybercrime investigators. . Investigations are still underway into cryptocurrency accounts held by the organizers of trafficking abroad, adds Oltim.