Police unravel travel document forgery ring in Paphos

In a significant development, Paphos police apprehended three suspects allegedly involved in manufacturing counterfeit travel documents. The operation, led by Assistant Police Director of Paphos Operations Michalis Nicolaou, unfolded yesterday, Thursday.

According to Nicolaou, the breakthrough came following intelligence gathered by Paphos CID and subsequent surveillance. Acting on this information, authorities conducted a targeted operation at a courier service, suspecting the exchange of forged travel documents involving foreign nationals.

During the operation, at 15:25 on Thursday, a 41-year-old individual was intercepted while collecting a package from Turkey at a specific courier office. Upon inspection of the package, which was concealed within polystyrene, Greek and Bulgarian driving licenses were discovered, suspected to be counterfeit.

Later, at 16:05, two individuals aged 36 and 45, were also intercepted while collecting a package from Turkey at the same courier service. Further examination revealed another forged document—a residence permit for the Republic of Cyprus—hidden in polystyrene, under one of the individual's names.

The three suspects, aged 41, 36, and 45, were arrested under judicial warrants and are currently in custody.

They face charges of conspiracy to commit a crime and forgery of documents.

Investigations into the matter are ongoing by the Paphos Crime Detection Department.

[With information sourced from CNA]