The Border Guard Rajavartiolaitos suspects two Iranian men, living in Finland, of being behind a people-smuggling operation.
Authorities think the Iranians obtained a fake French passport for another Iranian, via a Malaysian national, according to a statement.
The fraud was detected when Russian border agents stopped the Iranian man traveling from St. Petersburg to Helsinki on an Allegro train in May this year, and he gave them a forged French passport as proof that he had permission to be in the Schengen area.
Russian authorities realised the same man had arrived in Moscow the day before using an Iranian passport which had a genuine Russian visa in it.
When Russian and Finnish border guards investigated the case they found the Iranian man had paid €4500 for the forged French passport, and identified the people-smuggling suspects in Finland.
During the pre-trial investigation phase, one of the Iranian men living in Finland has been in custody.
Photographs of passports from various European countries, that had been reported lost or stolen, were found on both suspects’ phones.
The criminal investigation has now been completed and sent to the Eastern Finland Prosecutor’s Office.
