First published at 07:59 UTC on September 10th, 2019.
There has been a 550% increase in cases of suspected passport fraud in the past two years. 78 cases were investigated in 2016 but that rose to 504 last year. 237 cases have been forwarded to gardaí since 2016.
In January 2017, the BBC reported that…
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There has been a 550% increase in cases of suspected passport fraud in the past two years. 78 cases were investigated in 2016 but that rose to 504 last year. 237 cases have been forwarded to gardaí since 2016.
In January 2017, the BBC reported that thousands of non-EU nationals are paying tens of thousands of pounds for fake Irish documents to sneak into the UK.
The scandal was revealed in BBC’s Breaking into Britain on Radio 4.
Police say the scam was used by UK nationals who were trying to get their relatives into Britain from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).
People are paying up to £25,000 for the fake documents, according to the police.
Det Supt Stephen Courage from the Garda National Immigration Bureau told the BBC: ”The facilitator will quite often set up a company, of which you will either be an owner or a director.
"They will also create a work history for you. They will create payslips, they will open bank accounts, and also pay nominal tax so when the immigration service receives an application to exercise EU treaty rights, they will look at the paperwork and on the face of it, it will appear that you have a life in Ireland.
Once they have secured an Irish passport, they can then move to Britain.
Broadcast: Newstalk News | 06 Sep 2019
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