Dismantling of illegal immigration trafficking and fraud in the Grand Est

A major network of fraud and irregular immigration operating in Troyes, Reims, Rouen and Paris was dismantled by the Metz Motorized Brigade (BMR) with 18 people indicted in total, according to sources familiar with the matter on Friday February 12. .

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The police, acting within the framework of a judicial investigation opened in Troyes for irregular immigration, forgery and use of forgery, fraud, money laundering and criminal association, successively arrested seven people in October, then seven in November and finally four others on Monday. , we indicated from the same source.

The eighteen suspects have been indicted and most of them have been imprisoned, added the same source, adding that for the last four defendants, two were placed in pre-trial detention and two were released under judicial supervision.

The case began more than a year and a half ago at Roissy airport with the discovery by customs of Senegalese documents, false documents, including passports, intended for residents of Troyes.

The investigation opened by the BMR of Metz, which has jurisdiction over the entire eastern defense zone of France, initially made it possible to determine that the documents were intended for the Beninese milieu of Troyes, Reims, Paris and its region. .

The first wave of arrests targeted people suspected of being involved in a job posting scam via the social network Facebook.

The number of victims is being determined with a cost for each of them of about 1,500 euros, said the source close to the investigation, indicating that there are "

".

Further investigations made it possible to dismantle a traffic in aid for irregular stays, still in the Beninese and Senegalese communities, with certain people suspected of acting as real estate agents by subletting apartments to African nationals in an irregular situation.

Finally, the last wave of arrests Monday, "

" according to the same source, concerned people considered by investigators to be perpetrators of credit scams but also aid to irregular stays.