Overview
- A 36-year-old was arrested in Jerichower Land, Saxony-Anhalt, on suspicion of running a years-long forgery operation and is in pretrial detention.
- Investigators searched nine alleged customers in coordinated actions across Bavaria, Berlin, Hesse, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saxony-Anhalt and Schleswig-Holstein with about 300 federal police officers involved.
- Seizures included blank identity cards, engraving machines, stamps and counterfeit foil elements, and a Harley-Davidson motorcycle was taken as suspected criminal proceeds.
- Authorities say the forged IDs were marketed via crimemarket.is, with documents costing up to €550 paid in cryptocurrency and allowing buyers to choose personal details and photos.
- Prosecutors cite at least 50 suspected cases and report that extensive user data recovered in the searches is being analyzed to identify additional customers and potential related crimes such as fraud and money laundering.