An employee of the state Printing Company in Flers-en-Escrebieux, near Douai, Northern France displays 12 April 2006 a sample of the new biometric pasport which production will start, 13 April. France’s own roll-out of the new passports was held up because of a labour dispute sparked by the interior ministry’s decision to ask a private company to produce the new passports instead of the state printing firm. Currently, thousands of French citizens who have had new passports issued since October last year without microchips containing facial data have had to apply for visas for travel to the United States, a process that takes several months. AFP PHOTO PHILIPPE HUGUEN
France’s border police this week busted an illegal immigration ring leasing out real French passports to migrants from sub-Saharan Africa so they could enter the country, a police source has said.
The scam first came to light in November, when border agents at the main Paris airport stopped a man who had travelled from Mali on a passport that did not belong to him, the source said on Thursday.
“He told us he had paid 7,000 euros ($7,600) to fly from Bamako to Paris with an authentic French ID document,” the source said.
Police uncovered the existence of a network in the Paris region that recruited French nationals with an immigration background to “lend” out their identity papers in exchange for several hundred euros.
They then either sent their passports to somewhere in Africa by post or asked for a new passport from the French authorities with the photograph of someone else.
Investigators believe at least 250 people signed up for travel papers from the schemers, who offered their services to clients in Mali, Ivory Coast and Cameroon, often via social media.
Border police on Tuesday arrested three men and four women aged 24 to 55, all of Malian origin and suspected of running the operation, in and around Paris, the source said.
They are now hoping to identify those who shared their passports.
