U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers have seized six shipments containing 2,909 fake driver’s licenses and over 3,100 blank cards used to produce fake driver’s licenses.
The department says that all six shipments came from China and were set to be shipped to people in the New York area. CBP Louisville also received a report of over 500 driver’s licenses being claimed in Memphis.
Kentucky Today reports that “One seized shipment was identified as being sent to a convicted child rapist in the New York area, and the CPB says they suspect that person entices minors with alcohol and counterfeit IDs before engaging in illicit activity.”
Thomas Mahn, the Louisville Port Director, told Kentucky Today that while fake IDs can be used by teenagers, the usages have evolved into other areas. “Some of the major concerns as it relates to fraudulent identity documents is identity theft, worksite enforcement, critical infrastructure protection, fraud linked to immigration-related crimes such as human smuggling and human trafficking, and these documents can be used by those individuals associated with terrorism to minimize scrutiny from travel screening measures.”
The CBP is continuing to investigate the shipments and is being assisted by the Border Enforcement Security Task Force, Chicago’s Tactical Analytical Unit and Homeland Security.
By Sam Gormley, Local News
