Police raid gangs who sold forged ID papers to migrants

They were part of a network that sent fake papers across the world via courier services. They dispatched 557 such parcels over the course of 2015.

The network provided EU passports, ID cards and Schengen visas. The price of a fake document ranged from €100 to €3,000, Europol said, depending on the quality, type and country of issue.

They were sold to people who used them to enter the EU or legalise their stay in the EU bloc.

The Czech group, where three people were arrested on 10 May, bought stolen or found identity documents and sent them to Greece for counterfeiting.

Europol said a tip-off from the Czech authorities allowed them to identify the two groups in Greece, the agency revealed.

Findings made in the course of the investigation have put police on the track of similar gangs in Austria, Italy and Spain, Europol announced.

"In the last two years we have seen criminal gangs increasingly investing more in the production of fake documents to support a growing criminal market associated with the migrant crisis," Europol director Rob Wainwright said.

Europol reported in May that bringing people illegally into the EU had turned into a lucrative business in the wake of the global refugee crisis.

Ninety percent of migrants to the EU rely on criminal networks, the agency said. It estimated human smuggling was worth €5 billion a year.