Greek police on Wednesday announced two arrests in relation to an alleged forgery ring that authorities say produced counterfeit travel documents for irregular migrants seeking to travel illegally to other European Union countries.
More than 370 fake or partially completed documents were recovered from a fully equipped forgery workshop in inner city Athens.
Two foreign nationals, aged 44 and 46, were arrested during a police operation carried out on Tuesday. They face charges including participation in a criminal organization, large-scale forgery and possession of travel documents belonging to third parties.
According to police, the illicit operation had been operating since early 2025, producing counterfeit passports, identity cards, residence permits and other documents that were sold through migrant-smuggling networks. Authorities estimate the operation generated more than 200,000 euros in illicit profits.
Police said the suspects used an eatery in the gritty central Athens district of Kato Patisia as a meeting point for contacts with migrant traffickers and for the delivery of forged documents. A nearby residence housed a sophisticated forgery laboratory equipped with specialized software and printing equipment capable of producing high-quality counterfeit documents on a large scale.
Among the items seized were 243 identity cards, 46 passports, 12 residence permits, 12 driver’s licenses and nine visa documents, along with passport pages, official stamps, computers, printers, laminating equipment and digital storage devices.
Authorities said the alleged ringleader was responsible for producing the forged documents and operating the workshop, while the second suspect handled communications with trafficking networks and coordinated deliveries.
