Attempts to enter the European Union using stolen European passports are becoming widespread
As noted in the Swedish ministry, despite the fact that last year 950 illegals were detained trying to enter the country in this way, the number of undetected ones is likely significantly higher. "There is a network for illegal trafficking of Swedish passports," the ministry's report states. "Passports are used for the purpose of illegal movement of people. It is also likely that Swedish citizens give or lend passports to people who resemble them, allowing these people to enter Sweden and travel around Europe. It is impossible to determine the share of well-organized passport trafficking and other forms of fraud."
Stockholm has already announced that it will significantly enhance the passport protection system, in particular with fingerprints, but the overall threat will hardly change from this – as now, it will still be possible to enter the country by presenting poorly protected passports from other European countries.
It should be noted that this problem is being considered at the government level in the European Union for the first time. According to the Swedish ministry's report, the most popular stolen passports among illegals are likely those issued by Germany. According to 2013 data, citizens of that country lost 477,000 passports. Danish nationals – 195,000, Swedish – 177,000, Finnish – 44,000. According to Swedish police, attempts to illegally enter the country using these passports mainly occur on flights from Turkey. Fake passports are also used when departing from Sweden outside the European Union.
As Russkaya Germania reports, earlier Swedish Migration Minister Morgan Johansson called on other European countries to jointly address the problems of illegal migration in the European Union: "We can do a lot ourselves, and we are doing it, but we cannot do everything. It is necessary to share responsibility."