The Identification Department of Paraguay's National Police currently holds more than 120,000 ready identity documents and passports that were never collected by applicants, despite payment of corresponding fees. The unit's storage facility in Villa Aurelia, Asunción, contains 13,060 unclaimed passports and 111,071 unclaimed identity cards.
Chief Commissioner Alcides Duarte, director of the department, confirmed that many citizens begin procedures before summer and winter vacations, pay the required G. 240,000 for the passport, but do not complete the necessary visa process at the Ministry of Interior and Foreign Affairs, located in the same building.
Unclaimed documents are stored by issuance date and alphabetical order, and are later discarded after five years. The department has 80 branches in Paraguay and three offices in Buenos Aires province, Argentina, including a production unit at the Paraguayan Consulate.
Duarte also highlighted a significant increase in requests for Paraguayan nationality, mainly from Argentinians with Paraguayan ancestry, with more than 30 cases arriving weekly. However, he warned about constant attempts by Brazilian citizens with criminal records, many linked to gangs such as Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho, who seek to obtain Paraguayan documents using authentic certificates with false content.
To combat these frauds, suspicious cases are submitted for fingerprint verification through the Tripartite Command in Ciudad del Este, which consults Brazilian Federal Police databases. This measure has already resulted in the detention and expulsion of several criminals, including the recent case of a Brazilian hitman with multiple arrest warrants for homicide.