Metropolitan Police Target Londons Fake ID Factories

From the London Evening Standard: The Metropolitan Police have closed in excess of 20 fake ID factories during the last 18 months.

The police led operation focussed upon organised criminals using high end printing equipment to establish fake id factories producing fake driving licences, fake passports, and utility bills. The fake identity documents were manufactured to facilitate illegal immigration, false work visas, banking and benefit theft, and identity fraud.

The Metropolitan Police have been using Operation Maxim to fight organised illegal immigration in London, a spin off from this has been the Genesius project, this is a collaboration with supply partners of the printing industry, and aims to restrict the availability of manufacturing equipment suitable for use in the production of fake documentation. This scheme for resellers is entirely voluntary, and suppliers are encouraged to join, and be vigilant in spotting suspicious transactions and customers. There are calls from the police and other groups for the entire industry to be fully regulated, and this could be the first step towards this.

Different agencies directly related to illegal immigration crime such as people trafficking, fake id fraud and exploitation are all working together within this partnership. These include the crown prosecution, immigration, passport services. The project has had notable impact including the de-listing of a printer from the PC World product range, as it would have been capable of printing identification cards, the decision was hailed a success as the end of line high street retailer would have given wider unrestricted access to specialised printing equipment necessary for fake id production. Removing this product from the grasp of inexperienced fake id fraudsters, has meant resources can be applied more effectively to combat the sophisticated underground fake id factories.

Substantial recoveries of fake documentation have netted the arrests of 23 men of mainly Russian, and Chinese origin, the arrests resulted from intelligence led investigations whereby over 2000 fake passports, and the materials to make an additional 4000 fake documents were recovered. Also recovered from the factories were the computers, printing and scanning equipment, and a number of passport stamps.

Detectives involved during the investigation targeted fake id recovery, and described the recent hauls as “substantial for the reduction of illegal smuggling and people trafficking, this seizure of counterfeit documents and fake id cards, with an estimated value of one million pounds, will disrupt and signal to the criminal gangs involved that investigations do result in successful prosecutions of counterfeit document and fake id factory operators.