Several arrests were made during a multi-national operation in Athens last week, resulting in the dismantling of a criminal syndicate accused of forging documents for migrants.
In an operation involving Greek, German and US law enforcement units, the European police agency Europol dismantled a migrant smuggling network based out of Athens last week.
Raids across the Greek capital resulted in the arrest of a total of eight suspected members of the network.
Most of the suspects were reportedly known to Greek authorities already for their involvement in illegal activities such as document fraud, and some already had a criminal record.
According to Europol, the criminal network was mostly composed of Pakistani, Iranian and Turkish nationals.
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A multinational operation
The operations were carried out on July 24 and 25 following a lengthy investigation, which had originated in Germany.
During those two days, Greek officials carried out multiple searches, ultimately dismantling "a fully equipped forgery lab" and also seizing "hundreds of counterfeit documents, passport components, biometric data sets, forgery equipment, mobile phones, vehicles, drugs and over 68,000 euros in cash," a Europol press release highlighted.
Europol said it provided operational assistance in the raids, chiefly facilitating information exchange between Greek, German and US law enforcement authorities.
Several US agencies were actively involved in the operation, including US Customs and Border Protection, US Homeland Security Investigations, as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Athens.
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A forgery lab operating as a travel agency
The operation and the investigation leading up to it revealed that the suspected smuggling network had been functioning under the guise of a travel agency in Athens, with its main business reportedly focusing on the forging of papers.
The travel agency itself was used to facilitated the distribution of fake documents, investigators said, dispatching parcels containing false or counterfeit documents, and had been opened by the main suspect in the case, according to an official statement.
Those fake papers included passports, ID cards, driver's licenses as well as Greek residency permits, with most of those papers being sent to recipients in France, Spain and the United Kingdom.