False documents have become a vital currency for major crime gangs
FORGED passports, driving licences and national ID cards are vital currency in the operation of multi-millioneuro illegal immigration and people trafficking rackets.
The latest arrests are the culmination of several months of work by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) in co-operation with police forces across the EU and the USA.
Gardaí have revealed that the investigation centres on a pan-European crime group led by Georgian nationals, which has been using Ireland as a base for the large-scale production of documents which were being sent by courier and post to non-EU nationals in Spain, Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Finland and Iceland.
The multi-jurisdictional investigation, codenamed Operation Mombasa, began a year ago, when authorities in Iceland and Spain discovered that a number of Georgian nationals who had been arrested for criminal offences were in possession of false documentation sourced from Ireland.
The ongoing investigation, which now includes authorities in seven other jurisdictions, is a major blow to organised crime groups involved in hugely lucrative immigration and peopletrafficking rackets.
But yesterday’s arrests and seizure is only the latest development in an ongoing operation by GNIB since 2015 that has grown into a major international investigation.
Operation Vantage, which has been led by Detective Inspector Dave Kennedy, uncovered in excess of 2,500 bogus marriages between non-EU males and non-Irish female EU citizens. This in turn had generated over €30m for the criminals who facilitated the scam.
Det Insp Kennedy’s operation identified 16 Irishbased ring-leaders who were charging between €15,000 and €20,000 for each marriage.
The investigation resulted in the deportation of over 100 individuals including two suspected members of Isil and three convicted sex offenders, with marriage notifications amongst this particular group dwindling to single-digit figures in less than two years.
Apart from sourcing the ‘brides’ and arranging their travel, the gang also provided false documentation to obtain PPS numbers, which enabled the ‘grooms’ to apply for full EU residency.
Earlier this year Det Insp Kennedy’s investigation uncovered a related scam in which 180 non-EU nationals, who had no legal status in this country, were suspected of obtaining taxi licences using fraudulent PSV applications.
GNIB also smashed a criminal operation which used over 1,200 Irish registered front companies to help thousands of people to successfully bypass UK immigration laws.
UK nationals paid criminals an average of €20,000 to create false paper trails, using front companies and accommodation addresses to create the illusion that they were living and working here while they really continued to live in the UK.
After three months, the UK national could then apply to the Irish authorities for a family residence card for non-EU relatives.
It is estimated that the investigation has saved the State €20m a year.
The probe resulted in over 100 suspects being deported