Police arrest seven men in Kosovo for printing fake EU passports

PRISTINA (Reuters) - Police in Kosovo said on Thursday they had arrested seven men after an investigation during which they found hundreds of fake passports and other ID documents from EU countries, probably intended to be sold to Kosovan migrants hoping to work abroad. With an accompanying statement, police showed photographs of computers, printers and fake passports supposedly from Slovenia, Finland, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Spain and Greece found in two raids. Six other sites were also searched. "Those arrested are believed to be involved in organised crime, migrants smuggling, faking documents and trafficking narcotics,” the statement said. Police said the perpetrators used very high technology appliances to make the passports, driving licences and other documents mainly from EU countries. Kosovo, which declared independence in 2008, has a population of 1.8 million and about 800,000 Kosovars live abroad, mainly in western Europe, some of them illegally. "During the investigation we have identified a lot of Kosovars that have these documents," police said. "All those who have these documents now will face criminal charges." (Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Louise Ireland)