Man Arrested for Forging ID Cards, Addis Ababa Police say

ADDIS ABABA – A former employee of vital events registration diatrict office in Addis Ababa was arrested for allegedly forging residency Identity Cards at his home.

In a statement on Tuesday, Addis Ababa Police said a probe into a person who was arrested for using a fake ID in Lemi Kuru Sub-city with the help of the public, has led to the arrest of the mastermind behind the fraudulent ID card.

Police identified the suspect, who is now in Police custody, as a former employee of Bole Sub-City’s diatrict/Woreda 7 Administration’s vital events registration office.

Though the unamed man was transferred to another office, he has been making fake documents at his home using illegally prepared stamps and other materials of his former office, said Inspector Zeryihun Tezera, chief of Crime and Traffic Accidents Investigation Division of the Lemi Kiru Police Department.

Chief Inspector said numerous fake ID cards and photographs of individuals who were seeking fake IDs have been seized during a search conducted in the suspect’s home, located around an area called Yererber in Bole Sub-City.

Besides, Zeryihun said several business licenses, credentials, marriage certificates, travel and other documents were also found during the search last Saturday, Nov 13, 2021.

The investigation into the suspect is still underway.

Inspector Zeryihun said operatives of TPLF and others could be using fake IDs to carry out their ill-intention activities in Addis Ababa.

He urged the residents of the City to continue working with security forces as the information coming from the public “is making a significant contribution to successful operations” of the Police.

The council of ministers declared a state of emergency on November 2 in a bid, it said, to respond to threats to Ethiopia’s constitutional order posed by TELF – a group designated as terrorist by the Parliament earlier this year.

The emergency law requires citizens to carry residence ID cards or similar documents such as driver’s license, employment ID cards, and national passports, to identify themselves with at any time.

Individuals with no documents are required to appear to the nearby Kebele or security or administration office or to the police station to register and acquire temporary identification cards within two weeks after the release of the new guideline from the State of Emergency body.