Smashed, the Albanian fake passport lab that’s helped hundreds sneak into Britain
A SOPHISTICATED fake passport laboratory helping hundreds of migrants sneak into Britain has been smashed by police in Albania.
The illicit operation, run by people smugglers, was churning out almost ‘perfect’ counterfeit travel documents.
Investigators believe the ring produced more than 1,000 bogus papers, of which up to 800 are thought to have been used.
Detectives this week arrested 17 suspected members of the human trafficking gang – including a female police officer – in a string of raids aimed at destroying the network.
Undocumented migrants paid up to £20,000 for the counterfeit documents, which they used to travel openly to the UK by plane, train and bus.
The national Crime Agency has warned that fake identity documents that allow hardened crooks to slip into the country undetected are a ‘key enabler’ of crime in Britain.
The lucrative operation is thought to have continued for years in plain sight by using the cover of a printing business producing promotional leaflets in the centre of the Albanian capital Tirana. The smugglers produced a range of fake French, Italian, Hungarian, greek and Romanian passports, identity cards and driving licences.
They specialised in Bulgarian passports – which provide entry to the UK because it is in the eU – on the basis that British border staff would not know the difference between anyone speaking Albanian and Bulgarian.
The gang even imported paper, plastic and other raw materials directly from Bulgaria for added authenticity.
Police released pictures of the high-tech ‘laboratory’ revealing an array of copying machines and materials used in the scam.
An Albanian police source said the fake documents they created were ‘almost 100 per cent perfect’ and apparently fooled border guards. The printing company even had a web page – in both Albanian and english – where it boasted of its ‘artistry’ and promised it could provide ‘great opportunities’, without explicitly outlining its special services.
It was one of four fake passport laboratories used by the gang discovered in Albania. Another seven were found in greece, where several of the suspected gang members operated.
Illegal migrants were mostly sent first to countries including France, germany, Italy, norway or greece, before flying to the UK, US or Canada using their fake documents to gain entry. others travelled overland to France, where they met up with another people- smuggling cell, who arranged for them to take buses, cars, trains or trucks.
The traffickers provided them with a cover story and coached them in how to answer any questions from border guards.
The gang also advised the migrants to travel at the busiest times, when there were long queues at border crossings and guards had less time to challenge them or check documents.
Officers started investigating the criminal network in 2016 after capturing a group of migrants who had paid large sums to travel to the UK at Tirana airport.
Ismail Alushani, the owner of the printing studio, was one of the suspected gang members arrested in the raid. Policewoman entela Çala, 43, was one of two officers held on suspicion of taking cash from the criminal network to help them. Albanian police chief Ardi Veliu said: ‘Using different airlines and other channel of transportation this criminal organisation smuggled people to the UK, USA and Canada.
migrants ‘After leaving were Albania sent to illegal Italy, greece, France and norway and from there using fake passports and visas they went to their final destinations.’
The raid is the second major success for Albanian police tackling people traffickers this year.
In March it smashed a network that had made millions by smuggling 750 Albanians into Britain following an international operation. More than 50 people helped sneak migrants across 17 countries to reach the UK, US and Canada. Investigators also seized automatic guns, ammunition, more than £25,000 in cash and a cache of forged passports.