ERBIL — Kurdish security forces and police announced the arrest of a group of men in Erbil over multiple cases of forged visas, passports, and other documents.

During a press conference on Thursday, Sami Jalal, a director and Kurdistan Region’s ministry of interior, said the group were responsible for the exploitation of dozens of people, especially Syrian refugees.

“Under the cover of a tourism agency, the band sold forged visas to people,” Jalal said. “For each visa, they charged people around $15,000 to $20,000.”

According to the preliminary findings of the investigation, the visa stickers were printed in a “neighboring country”, but they were soon recognized as fake at Erbil International Airport and Ibrahim Khalil border crossing between Kurdistan Region and Turkey.

The official did not elaborate but implied that most of the forged visas were for Turkey and Germany.

Bas News