Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) says that a visa forgery gang operating in Armenia between July 2018 and February 2020 charged more than twenty citizens of Armenia  an average of €3,650 to get fake documents (marriage certificates, work contracts, bank statements) with which they applied for, an received, entry visas from a number of European embassies operating in Armenia.

The NSS says all the individuals thus illegally entered the Schengen Area.

The NSS, in a statement, does not say how many people were in the gang.

The agency says one of the ringleaders has been arrested but that the others fled Armenia.

A criminal investigation has been launched.