For several years, a gang of criminals in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania has apparently been forging boating licences and fishing licences and offering them for sale on the internet. Over 100 interested parties have taken up this offer and illegally acquired the forged licences. This was announced yesterday by Department VIII of the Rostock public prosecutor's office, which is responsible for prosecuting cybercrime, and the Rostock criminal investigation department.
In recent weeks, investigators have carried out extensive house searches at the homes of alleged buyers of the counterfeits in Rostock and the surrounding area of the Hanseatic city. Numerous items of evidence were seized in the process. Further searches of buyers who have already been identified are also planned in order to finally remove the counterfeit documents from circulation.
In this context, the public prosecutor's office expressly pointed out once again that both boating licences and fishing licences are only issued by the relevant authorities. And only if a corresponding qualification test has been successfully passed beforehand.
Not only the counterfeiters, but also the buyers of the illegal documents are therefore the focus of the investigations, as they pose a "significant threat to public safety and order on the water" without the corresponding certificates of competence, according to a statement from the public prosecutor's office.
Buyers who have made themselves liable to prosecution by purchasing the counterfeits are unlikely to enjoy the notes. They can be recognised as counterfeits relatively quickly by officials, for example during an inspection on the water.
