Paris: Ten Pakistani citizens have been arrested from the outskirts of Paris, about suspicion of money laundering, human trafficking and false documents, according to sources.
According to the media report, the police suspected two brothers among the 10 captured, to control this network.
The police received a network smell in June 2020 after being told about suspicious packages that carry fake European documents arriving in France, from Pakistan through Turkey and Greece.
According to sources, fake documents include official documents of countries in the Schengen area and especially for France, including passports, identity cards, and residence permits.
After this, investigators from the headquarters for irregular immigration oppression and the work of non-documulated foreigners and OCRGDF (headquarters for serious financial crime oppression) began investigations on the presence of illegal workers operating in the Paris region, most of the construction sectors.
During the investigation, the French authorities also explored 20 legal companies involved in the construction business associated with a large network of “taxi” companies, which were used to direct funds to nearly 200 bank accounts opened with fake papers.
This network transfers money to various accounts using false invoices or documents and then gets money from legal circuits by drawing a large number of this bank account through the ATM.
Part of the withdrawn money is used to pay illegal Pakistani people who work at this construction site and the rest are diverted to Pakistan.
Searching in this 10-house house of this individual from the area of Val-d’Oise and Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris leads to the recovery of 157 fake identity documents, Euro 134,000 cash, four vehicles including Maserati, documents related to 180 bank accounts and paper Fake paper is used to open this account.
In accordance with the police, between 2019 and 2021, at least a 28 million euro was transferred to a different bank account and another 13 million euro was transferred to an account in the name of the company in front, said the source.
This case has explored close relations between illegal immigration from Pakistan and money laundering.