Large amount of counterfeit identity documents detected in Finland

Finnish Customs and Border Guard have detected about 100 fake identification papers sent to asylum seekers in Finland, said the customs in a press release on Thursday.

The counterfeit documents, most of which originated from Iraq and Syria, were found at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport in the past weeks.

Among the documents were passports, identity cards, photographs, driving licenses, as well as refugee certificates. They were sent via airmail from Iraq, Turkey, and some European countries to Finland, said the Finnish Customs.

The mails were on their way to reception centers for asylum seekers in Finland when they were confiscated.

Asylum seekers need original personal identification documents from their home countries in order to settle down in Finland but the vast majority of the refugees have arrived without any identity papers.

According to the customs, more than 500 such kinds of identity documents have been disclosed this year. The number of shipments has grown rapidly in recent days, up to 50 pieces each day.

Kari Kettunen, head of the crime prevention unit of the Finnish Border Guard, told Finnish national broadcaster Yle that a quarter of the arriving personal identity papers have been found with some indications of falsification. Endit