Refugees travel to the European Union using fake Czech passports
During regular inspections carried out at five international airports of the Czech Republic, suspicious circumstances were discovered in which citizens of so-called 'third countries' entered the territory of the Czech Republic using forged documents. Upon detailed examination, these turned out to be altered Czech passports that were listed in databases as lost or stolen.
The head of the Document Department of the Foreign Police, Hubert Lang, provides details uncovered during the investigation: 'For those documents whose identities we managed to establish, we determined the citizenship of the following countries: Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Vietnam, and Russia. Among citizens of the Russian Federation, individuals of Chechen nationality predominate. Individuals whose citizenship we could not determine, based on typical appearance, resemble citizens of African countries or the Middle East. As for the categories of forged documents, we have several models of Czech passports: the 2000 model, the 2005 model, and the latest polycarbonate model.'
Foreign police officers have been monitoring this area especially actively over the past three years. The situation escalated by 2015, and at present, police are aware of 105 cases of misuse of Czech passports. Some of these cases were recorded right at the external border of the Czech Republic, when police at Václav Havel Airport detained individuals attempting to enter the country using forged documents, transit to Scandinavian states, or directly apply for political asylum on the spot. However, as Colonel Hubert Lang stated, in most cases, information about the detentions came to the Czech police from foreign colleagues.
'Exposure usually occurs at the final destination, and this is the worst-case scenario – when the person has already entered the European Union and is applying for asylum. However, often the discovery happens during their first contact with the police in a transit country or even in their home country, where they commit some crime and present Czech documents, which are exotic for that country.'
As the head of the Document Department of the Foreign Police explained, further checks revealed that some confiscated passports had been reported in databases as lost or stolen. Further details also emerged, such as that some people had 'lost' three passports within six months. The situation became even more absurd when identifying such a 'loser' – it turned out to be a five-year-old girl.
'The passports sold by Czech citizens are not only children's; men's and women's documents are also sold. Interestingly, a significant category consists of small children. This means that a parent obtains a passport for a child, and, as we can see from our information, it is almost immediately resold to the Middle East. So the situation where an 8-year-old child has reported a lost passport is quite suspicious.'
After the return of a Czech passport to the country, the Foreign Police conducts a verification of the document in registration systems within the Czech Republic. In most cases, it was found that these passports were issued in the regions of North Bohemia (Ústí nad Labem, Teplice, Louny, Litoměřice, Kladno, Jablonec nad Nisou), North Moravia (Ostrava area), or Central Bohemia (Příbram) – that is, regions with higher unemployment rates, where a larger number of socially disadvantaged populations live.
'In most cases, it was found that socially disadvantaged segments of the population are engaged in selling passports. They likely use this as an easy source of income. Obtaining a passport costs around 500 crowns (about 18 euros). We managed to determine the approximate price of documents when sold. For two passports, for example, clients in one case paid $7,000. Of course, we do not know how much the forgers pay citizens for these passports. It could be from 1,000 crowns (35 euros). On average, acquiring a Czech passport costs around 25,000-30,000 crowns (900-1,000 euros).'
As soon as a passport is reported lost, it immediately appears in the Schengen Information System, so as soon as the passport is again registered, at least within the EU, it will be flagged as lost by its number. There is also a category of passports that have expired but were not returned to the relevant authorities, which is required by law. The most dangerous category, according to Hubert Lang, is passports that are still valid but whose owners have not reported them lost.
'This means that these individuals had their passports stolen and did not know about it, so they could not report it. Such an excuse is quite common. Or else – that these individuals actually sold the passports and this was not recorded anywhere. So if a police officer at the border encounters such a passport, it looks completely normal, but it is presented by another person. In this case, forgers select people who resemble those in the photo. Often the page with personal data is forged in the passports. The last option is passports of deceased people. We do not know how they enter the illegal migration circuit.'
According to Colonel Hubert Lang, the quality of forged documents leaves much to be desired. As a rule, a layer printed on a printer and applied on an adhesive base is glued onto the first page, which is equipped with a special polycarbonate coating. Sometimes the surname and first name are changed, and sometimes they remain original, only the photograph is changed. The complexity of forgery, according to an officer of the Foreign Police, lies in the fact that Czech passports are among the five best protected passports in the world.
“If you manage to cross the external border of the Schengen area with such a document, then you can use it to register somewhere, open a bank account, take out insurance, buy something through online banking, rent a car, and so on. And when the first payment goes through, it will become clear that such a person does not exist at all, and the company that provided the services will be left with only a scanned first page of the document,” describes Hubert Lang cases when documents fell into the hands of criminals.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to talk about punishment for people suspected of selling their own passports, since Czech legislation currently does not provide for a limit on the number of such documents a citizen can obtain.
“We will strive to slightly change the legislative process so that it is possible to obtain two or even three passports. And if it somehow turned out that the second or third passport appears in the process of illegal migration, then such a person would have a harder time obtaining a passport in the future. That is, you will have the right to obtain a passport, but you will pay significantly more for it than under the standard procedure.”
What awaits a person who nevertheless enters the Schengen area with a fake passport? According to Colonel Hubert Lang, it is currently quite difficult not only to establish the true identity of a migrant, but also the purpose for which he arrived in the Schengen zone. Of course, every migrant has the right to ask for asylum, which many families fleeing, for example, from Syria from war zones do. However, in addition to civilians, these may be people with a criminal past, individuals associated with the Islamic State organization, and so on. And it is impossible to verify the data they provide, for example, in war-torn Syria.
Olga VASINKEVICH.
Radio Prague