They brought illegal immigrants into the territory with real French passports: the border police (PAF) of Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle airport dismantled this week a network of illegal immigration from sub-Saharan Africa, we learned Thursday, May 11 from police source.
The case began in November 2022 when border guards intercepted a passenger from Mali with a genuine passport, but which turned out not to be his. "He tells us that he paid 7000,<> euros to make a Bamako-Paris with an authentic French document," said the police source.
Identity card loans
The PAF police officers then discovered the existence of a network that provided foreign nationals with French identity documents allowing them to enter the national territory through the front door, with control reduced to the strict minimum at the border crossing. To do this, the sector based in the Paris region recruits French people with an immigrant background to "lend", for a few hundred euros, their identity document.
They send their passport to Africa by mail or have a new one redone at the town hall by providing the photo of a different person. The organization provided its services to clients residing in Mali, Côte d'Ivoire or Cameroon, often found via social networks. Investigators estimate it possible that "at least" 250 people used this system. "We are well beyond the small sector that passes twenty people, there it turned well," commented the police source.
After several months of investigation, the border police arrested this Tuesday morning across the Island of France seven people of Malian origin, three men and four women aged between 24 and 55, identified as the network's operatives. The defendants are to be brought Thursday evening to the court of Bobigny. The investigation will now focus on identifying passport lenders for prosecution.