Networks specializing in fake passports with official visas and travel stamps spread in Turkey and they are offering fake passports and official visas for terrorists from ISIS, the British Guardian newspaper revealed.
This has become a booming online industry in Turkey and it gives an opportunity to ISIS terrorists and people with links to it to travel with fake passports to the United Kingdom, the European Union, Canada, and the United States, a Guardian investigation has found.
One such network, run by an Uzbek man with extremist links living in Turkey, is now selling high-quality fake passports for up to $15,000.
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The newspaper added that in at least 10 cases the Guardian is aware of, people who illegally crossed the Syrian border into Turkey have used his products to depart through the Istanbul airport.
It noted that the Uzbek man’s business is doing so well that he recently opened a new channel on the encrypted messaging app Telegram with an official-sounding name.
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 newspaper said.
Meanwhile, a source in the U.S. Department of Interior admitted that there is a certain seller in Turkey who provides forged documents to ISIS terrorists, indicating that the United States is aware that ISIS terrorists use these fake passports to cross to Europe and that European security has not succeeded in arresting them.
This article was edited by The Syrian Observer. The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
