![]() The fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban had also created a new client base of Afghan refugees in Turkey, the Uzbek said. On a Telegram chat for people in al-Hawl, a camp in north-east Syria home to about 60,000 women and children with links to IS, one of the Uzbek’s online marketers, a foreign woman detained in another camp nearby, has posted: “If you need fake documents from Russia, Central Asia, Turkey, Europe, DM me.” While the document sellers’ most popular service is providing documents for foreign fighters in Syria associated with IS and other armed groups to travel to Europe, the group has also identified new areas to expand. “We are aware of IS members using these fake passports to cross to Europe, and European security is not successful in arresting them all.” “There is a particular seller in Turkey who provides IS members with very high level documents,” using interlocutors who speak Russian, Arabic and other languages to cater for different clients, said a source at the US Department of Homeland Security. When placed under a black light, two Russian passports contain UV-sensitive materials designed to stop passport forgery, and a Belgian passport placed on a scanner similar to those used in airports appears to read correctly, with the holder’s details appearing on the monitor.Īccording to document sellers, it is impossible to fake a working biometric chip, but at many border crossings officials checking passports simply ignore those that don’t work, waving the passport holder through. The Uzbek sent several videos of his wares, including crisp new French, Belgian, Bulgarian and Russian passports that appear to feature authentic security watermarks and holograms.Ġ1:23 Fake passports supplied by Uzbek seller that allow ISIS members to enter Europe and the US – video In 2020, Tajikistan totally overhauled its consular staff in Istanbul and document system in an attempt to stamp out the use of fake Tajik passports.īut in response, sellers of fake passports have also upped their game, using a wider variety of nationalities for prospective clients. Since then, European border agencies have invested in technology and personnel training to better identify forged passports. IS claimed several attacks around the continent shortly after, including the November 2015 attack on the Bataclan theatre in Paris and the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017. Western security officials warned in 2015 that IS had managed to obtain significant equipment such as blank passport books and printers to make Syrian and Iraqi passports, which it used to disguise operatives among the more than 1 million people who fled to Europe during the peak of the refugee crisis. The security services should deal with it.” ![]() “It is not my job to see who is bad and who is not. I am willing to work with anyone,” the Uzbek said in a message chat with the Guardian, which posed as an interested client. ![]() “I do not ask about which group someone is with. The growing trade suggests that dangerous extremists could be slipping under the radar of security services around the world, escaping justice for past crimes and potentially able to continue terrorist activity in countries other than Syria. The Uzbek’s business is doing so well he recently opened a new channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram with the official-sounding name “Istanbul Global Consulting”. Niger and Mauritania are also popular destinations, as are Ukraine and Afghanistan. Sellers claim the EU is the most popular destination but say in at least two cases people were able to travel from Istanbul to Mexico on fake Russian passports and, from there, illegally over the border into the US. ![]()
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