Four people, including a Rockdale man, have been arrested for manufacturing fake identification after police searches on Wednesday at Canley Vale, Rockdale and Lakemba.
Operation Mera was formed when Australian Customs and Border Protection Service officers found 5000 NSW driver licence holograms after they arrived concealed in a package from China.
Police said they identified a fraudulent identity manufacturing operation in Sydney which had created thousands of fake identification cards including licences, Medicare cards and credit cards.
Some of those cards had been used to commit fraud offences against financial institutions in Sydney.
One person used false identification to board a domestic flight.
At Rockdale, police found 60 mobile phones, computers, card templates, pay slips, bank statements, cash and numerous false identity documents.
At Canley Vale, they found computer equipment, printers, card cutters, thousands of blank cards, a large quantity of holograms for licences and credit cards, electronic card templates, card readers, and fraudulent identity documents in various states of manufacture from Australia and overseas.
Police also found 40 mobile phones, credit cards, driver’s licenses, Medicare cards, laptop computers USB and hard drives, financial documents and holograms for licences at Lakemba.
A Rockdale man, 25, and Indian national, was charged with conspiracy to cheat and defraud, dealing with identification information, possession of equipment/material to make false documents and involvement in a criminal group.
He was refused bail to appear today in Burwood Court.
A Lakemba man, 41, also an Indian national, was charged with conspiracy to cheat and defraud, dealing with identification information, involvement in a criminal group and boarding an airline using a passenger ticket in a false name and possessing equipment/material to make false documents.
He was also refused bail to appear at Burwood Court today.
A Canley Vale woman, 40, was charged with dealing with identification information, possessing equipment/material to make false documents and involvement in a criminal group.
The Vietnamese national was given conditional bail to appear in Liverpool Court on March 16.
A Canley Vale man, 57, was charged with dealing with identification information, possessing equipment/material to make false documents and involvement in a criminal group.
He was given conditional bail to appear in Liverpool Court on March 16.
A man, 50, was detained by police at the Lakemba address and handed over to immigration officers because he was an unlawful non-citizen.
Dealing with identification information has a penalty of up to 10 years in jail and being involved in a criminal group has a penalty of up to 15 years in jail.
Anyone with information about identity crime should contact Crime Stoppers, 1800 333 000.
