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Dutch journalist pays €750 for Syrian passport with PM Rutte’s photo

In his article in Dutch Nieuwe Revu magazine a Syria-based reporter proves that it's easy to get a fake passport within 40 hours if you have money and a phone number from one of passport forgers

THE HAGUE, September 16. /TASS/. A Syria-based reporter of a Dutch news magazine has paid just €750 for a Syrian passport with a photograph of Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, in a bid to prove that IS fighters could infiltrate Europe disguised as refugees.

"All you need is a phone number from one of passport forgers and converted €750. And within 40 hours you will have a passport," Harald Doornbos who works for Nieuwe Revu magazine said in his article published on Wednesday.

The passport, which displays a photograph of Rutte, was issued in the name of Malek Ramadan from Damascus.

"Since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict, thousands of blank passports and the Assad government’s printers have fallen into the hands of Sunni insurgents," Doornbos said. "And they are ready to sell a passport to anyone who wants to pay."

He said that the availability of fake passports would make it more difficult for security services to detect terrorists coming from Syria to Europe, and the consequences could be terrible.

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