Niger: 10,000 Exol tablets and 86 passports seized following the arrest of an individual by the Border Police Post (BPP) in Dan Borto and the departmental branch of the Central Office for the Suppression of Illicit Drug Trafficking (OCRTIS) in Matamey, according to a statement by the Nigerien police.
On Sunday, September 10, 2023, during a search at the BPP in Dan Borto, elements of the Nigerien National Police discovered and seized from a Nigerian national 10,000 Exol tablets and eighty-six (86) Nigerian passports, twenty (20) of which were still valid.
The results of the investigation carried out by the Dan Borto BPP in collaboration with the departmental branch of the OCRTIS of the Matamey National Police Directorate revealed the existence of a network for the falsification and production of counterfeit passports between Nigeria, Niger, Libya, and possibly Europe.
18 passports sold The suspect, who came from Nigeria, intended to travel to Libya via Agadez. He admitted to purchasing the 10,000 Exol tablets and the eighty-six (86) passports in Nigeria to resell them in Libya.
These passports, which he buys from two Nigerian accomplices who obtain them from Travel Agencies or the Nigerian Immigration Services, come from customers who no longer claim their documents after a pilgrimage or a trip or from passports that have expired and were confiscated by the Immigration Services during renewals.
Purchased in Nigeria for prices ranging from 4,000 to 5,000 Naira, these passports are resold in the Libyan market for 12,000 to 15,000 Nairas to migrants and other individuals in irregular situations, according to the statements made by the suspect.
This trafficker, who is not a first-time offender, also revealed that he had already sold eighteen (18) Nigerian passports in Libya during his first trip.
It should be noted that these counterfeit passports are used in the context of illicit migrant trafficking, human trafficking, and can also be used by criminal and terrorist organizations.”
