French Police Bust Network of Identity Fraud Fake Underage Migrants

http://bit.ly/2GOhnxR | Police in Montpellier has taken down a network of migrants from the Ivory Coast who used forged documents to claim that they were underage when they were actually adults.

The network, which was based in Montpellier but involved migrants across the country, saw the arrest of its head this week who is accused of forging documents to defraud the French government.

The network head is also said to have worked with people smugglers to help migrants get to Europe through Libya.

The arrest came after French authorities in the department of the H'erault noticed five migrants from the Ivory Coast having nearly identical documents which showed them all coming from the same province in the African nation.

This led to authorities in the Ivory Coast arresting a civil servant who is said to have worked with the head of the network, helping smuggle migrants into Europe.