Seven people were arrested in connection with the dismantling of a traffic in false certificates of negative tests for Covid-19, which they illegally sold to travelers at Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport, we have learned Thursday from corroborating sources.
The investigation allowed "
the discovery (in the cell phones of the people arrested) of more than 200 false negative certificates, made on the spot and allowing to embark on international flights
", told AFP the public prosecutor of Bobigny, confirming information from M6.
The alleged forgers, six men and a woman aged 29 to 52, are "
prosecuted for forgery, use of forgery and complicity in fraud
", added this source.
Their trial will be held in March 2021.
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The traffic, which took advantage of the obligation for certain travelers to present a negative test for the coronavirus in order to be able to board, operated in a simple way: the defendants established false certificates by taking the name of an existing laboratory, then transmitted them to buyers in paper or digital format, according to an airport source.
"
They gave these certificates against a sum ranging from 150 to 300 euros,
" said the prosecution.
The investigations, carried out since the end of September by the border police (PAF), had started “
following the discovery of a passenger who had checked in on a flight to Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) with a false certificate of no -contamination by the virus
, added this source.
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This small network carried out these fraudulent operations mainly for "
customers
" traveling to Africa, according to an airport source, specifying that the traffickers were already known in Roissy as
clandestine
"
packers
" of luggage, an activity at half mast with the drastic decline frequentation of the airport due to the health crisis.
The accused risk up to five years imprisonment and a fine of 375,000 euros.
