In a priority action, 100 police officers carried out 24 house searches throughout Austria on Wednesday morning. 22 suspects are suspected of having traded in forged vaccination passports. Several forged evidence as well as cell phones and computers were seized during the action, according to a press release from the Interior Ministry.
All federal states were affected except for Vorarlberg and Burgenland. The suspects are people from different backgrounds, according to the Interior Ministry. There are no common features, except “the rejection of protective norms for the general public”.
“The pandemic has brought about new forms of crime. The Federal Criminal Police Office and the State Criminal Police Office face these tasks through consistent and structured investigations in close cooperation with the health authorities,” said Interior Minister Gerhard Karner. “Organized trade and the use of falsified vaccination certificates are not a trivial offense, but a criminal act. The Federal Criminal Police Office will therefore continue to take action against everyone who uses fake vaccination certificates, but above all against the counterfeiters and traders in the background,” continues Karner.
Because of the new Omikron virus variant, the police will maintain controls in public spaces. “Every day around 30,000 controls are carried out throughout Germany. The controls continue to be based on two pillars: the controls in the general patrol service and the focus actions by standby units and the state criminal investigation offices, which investigate the perpetrators of forged vaccination cards,” said the interior minister.
Source: Nachrichten
