A joint Anglo–Greek police operation has broken up an “industrial-scale” people-smuggling network that included a fully equipped forgery lab hidden inside a travel agency in Athens, the UK Foreign Office has reported.
The raid was announced as Britain’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper visited Athens on Thursday to formalise a new UK-Greek partnership to combat illegal migration and people smuggling.
Officers from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) conducted the raid alongside Greek police who arrested eight people and seized counterfeit documents that were used to help hundreds of illegal migrants cross Europe and enter Britain.
The Athens raid dismantled a sophisticated forgery operation, recovering fake passports, biometric data sets and high-end printing equipment capable of producing false documents that can get past modern border controls, officials said.
The investigators believe that the travel agency was a front for an organised crime gang that had supplied forged identity papers to migrants who want to move undetected through Europe. A large quantity of mobile phones, vehicles, drugs and more than €68,000 in cash were also seized by police. The seizure of biometric data sets is said to be particularly concerning because it allows criminals to tailor documents to individual migrants, making detection more difficult.
“Illegal and dangerous boat crossings are undermining border security in both the Channel and the Mediterranean,” Ms Cooper said. “Tackling and preventing illegal migration and going after the multimillion-pound criminal smuggler gangs is a top priority for both the UK and Greece.”
The bilateral agreement in Athens, signed with her Greek counterpart, George Gerapetritis, commits the two countries to greater co-operation on border security, law enforcement and the disruption of the criminal supply chains behind small-boat crossings.
Ms Cooper said that organised immigration crime required a co-ordinated international response. “This is a global threat, so we are taking a whole-of-government approach and increasing our work with partners to tackle people smuggling at every stage of the routes into Europe.”
British officials said the Athens investigation was an example of how intelligence-sharing and joint operations can deliver results. Under the new agreement, Britain will provide training and operational support to Greek law enforcement agencies to help them dismantle smuggling networks at source.
The deal forms part of a wider British strategy to curb illegal migration, including increased funding for deterrence projects in Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia to help divert thousands of potential migrants into jobs closer to home and away from making the dangerous crossings across the Mediterranean.
The UK government, which has struggled with migrants since it left the EU in 2020, has also struck new agreements with France, Germany and Balkan states to disrupt criminal gangs.
