Retired immigration official arrested for people smuggling, scamming migrants: report
The police arrested a former employee of the immigration and naturalization service IND on suspicion of people smuggling and fraud. After his retirement, the 74-year-old man from Rotterdam scammed at least two migrants into paying him thousands of euros with the promise that he would arrange residency permits for their families, AD reports.
Two migrants told AD that they paid the man a total of 25,000 euros to bring their families to the Netherlands - many thousands of euros more than the actual cost for such applications. The suspect, Rob B., kept them on the line for years, showing them documents to prove that he was working on the applications.
But the documents turned out to be fake. AD showed one with the IND logo on to the service, which said it “does not recognize the document.” The document shows “a department that does not exist with us,” a spokesperson said to the newspaper.
Rob B. admitted to the newspaper that he had forged the documents. He said the thousands of euros paid by the migrants “went to intermediaries,” but he would not elaborate further.
The police confirmed the arrest. They launched an investigation after one of the victims filed a report against the man. “The victims would receive a residency permit and support in finding a place to stay in exchange for large amounts of money. But after transferring the money, they heard nothing but false promises from the suspect,” the police said to the newspaper.
The police think the man may have targeted more asylum seekers and other migrants. They call on any other victims to come forward.
