Police arrest 45 people in Ceuta for document fraud on ferries
40 migrants were arrested after attempting to cross to the peninsula with false documents belonging to European citizens. Five others accused of facilitating the fraudulent documentation.
Mass arrests over falsified documentation at Ceuta port
The National Police have arrested 45 people in Ceuta for fraudulently using identity documents belonging to others to board ferries to Algeciras, according to reports by El Confidencial. Of those detained, 40 are migrants who allegedly attempted to cross the strait with papers belonging to third parties, predominantly European citizens, for which they paid amounts of up to 6,000 euros. The remaining five are accused of facilitating that illegal documentation.
The operation is part of the security measures deployed following the mass entry of people recorded on 30 and 31 July. Agents reviewing passenger documentation at the port detected travellers whose physical features did not match the photographs on the presented documents. Subsequent verification confirmed that those papers belonged to third parties and were being used to assume false identities.
Ceuta and Melilla occupy a unique position within the Schengen area: exit control is carried out by sea or air, which requires all passengers to identify themselves to the National Police before travelling to the peninsula. During the investigation, agents established an increase in reports of theft or loss of identity and travel documents in the autonomous city. Those papers, mostly belonging to European citizens, were subsequently used to evade port controls.
Investigators found that the same document had been repeatedly used by different people on separate journeys to the peninsula. For the Police, this pattern indicates the possible existence of organised criminal networks dedicated to facilitating irregular migration. Faced with these findings, the National Police reinforced the port security operation with personnel from Punto Atenas, the central office for document operations of the Central Unit Against Irregular Immigration Networks and Document Fraud (UCRIF).
Punto Atenas handles immediate inquiries from any agent who encounters a document of questionable authenticity. If the irregularity is confirmed, it prepares a technical report with digital signature that is incorporated into the proceedings. The operation has been developed with coordination from various police units deployed on the Andalusian coast and at central level, working jointly with the Public Prosecutor's Office against the unlawful trafficking of migrants.
Source: El Confidencial