Dodgy dealers to be jailed for fake identity business

Two men are set to be jailed for dealing thousands of fake identity cards and certificates.

Arsene Meci, 26, manufactured fake driving licences, national identity cards, passports and construction and security certification cards at his home in Western Road, East Finchley.

These were then sold by broker Medi Krasniqi, 47, of Corbyn Street, Finsbury Park.

Officers from the National Crime Agency, who arrested the pair last month, said the men specialised in making fake construction safety certificates.

Carl Eade, senior investigating officer from the NCA, said: “Krasniqi and Meci really were the ‘go-to’ men for anyone who wanted any form of false ID anywhere in north London. Their clients included criminals and people in the UK illegally.

“The thousands of passports, identity cards and other documents they were creating and selling were then used to help people obtain work or services they weren’t entitled to.

“Worryingly there is a safety element here too – one of the forms of ID they specialised in was certification to work in the construction industry. We have no way of knowing whether their clients were actually qualified to do the jobs they were then able to apply for.”

The men would carry out handovers of the fake documents in shops and cafes in Turnpike Lane.

On arrest Krasniqi had around 70 counterfeit cards in his possession. A search of a property linked to him also led to the seizure of around £12,000 cash, much of which had been hidden behind an oven.

At Meci’s flat NCA officers discovered a forgery factory; computers, laminators and professional printing equipment, along with a number of photos, blank cards and fake passports ready to be made up.

Examination of the computers revealed they contained more than eight thousand images and templates for driving licences, identity card, passport and cards entitling the bearer to work in the construction and security industries.

Both men pleaded guilty to conspiring to produce false identity documents, possession of false ID and money laundering charges at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday, December  15, and will be sentenced in January.

The NCA say the men are the final two members of a wider north-London based forgery network to be convicted.

During the course of the investigation more than three hundred fake passports and two hundred counterfeit national identity cards have been seized, along with databases containing thousands of images of fake documents and images of around 20,000 individuals.

Source: thisislocallondon