Smugglers abuse lax identity checks to move migrants out of Greece скачать в хорошем качестве

Smugglers abuse lax identity checks to move migrants out of Greece

(28 Mar 2018) A month after squeezing into a rubber boat to cross a frigid river on the Greek-Turkish border, a Syrian refugee with a counterfeit South American passport took off from a small northern Greek airport in a chartered private jet for France. He very nearly made it, as nobody checked his papers in Kozani, but was caught by police in nearby Thessaloniki airport where the plane made a stop to refuel. The remarkable upgrade was the latest - albeit foiled - ploy by international smuggling gangs that cater to well-paying migrants and refugees trapped in Greece by stringent land and sea border controls. Looser identity checks for people flying within Europe's passport-free region, known as the Schengen Area, offer an illegal, but hassle-free shortcut to Europe's affluent heartland for migrants armed with a forged passport and a plane ticket. A migrant who was caught trying to leave by plane with a forged passport is Firas Aassim, 23, a member of Iraq's persecuted Yazidi minority. He reached Greece two years ago, got to Serbia on foot before the border closures and was returned to Greece where he lives in refugee housing. He arranged with smugglers to be spirited out two months ago, but was arrested at a Greek island airport where he tried to board a flight for Italy, with a fake Italian passport and Greek ID card. Aassim says he applied for relocation and family reunion in Germany but has not heard from authorities. He will now seek asylum in Greece. There's a thriving illegal industry in Greece that churns out counterfeit passports and identity papers. In late February, police in Athens, working with Europol, confiscated nearly 1,000 fake or stolen ID or travel documents - many imported from France and other countries - arresting 11 people. All were destined migrants seeking to leave Greece. And last November Greek police broke a large, locally based network that sold fake identities allowing illegal migrants to travel and reside freely throughout Europe. Four workshops were located in Athens, where gang members allegedly forged high-quality documents and delivered them to clients within hours of receiving the order. Last year, Greek police caught a total 1,672 migrants trying to sneak out of the country by plane. Their rationale is that in theory, under the passport-free travel deal identity checks are not carried out on people flying between Europe's 26 Schengen Area countries. So despite the high fees charged by smuggling rings, the flight option seems to carry a relatively high chance of success, combined with minimal travel time and bother. By contrast, the land route is impractical due to a series of fenced-off Balkan borders. And transport by sea to fellow Schengen member Italy is less appealing because of longer travel times, supplementary identity checks on the ship, and the long remaining leg from Italy to migrants' final destinations. Police are also training airline employees to detect fake documents. Nevertheless, Germany regarded the situation serious enough to start checks on all flights arriving from Greece from November 12, 2017 - angering Athens. Greek police are assisting their German colleagues in German airports. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...