Two women of Congolese nationality were detained on Tuesday, the 23rd, at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Luque while trying to board an Air Europa flight to Europe using genuine Brazilian passports belonging to other people. The irregularity was identified during immigration control, when officers noticed discrepancies between the passengers’ physical features and the photographs in the documents.
The detainees were identified as Geodrine Perside Ntsangou, who presented a passport in the name of Brazilian citizen Ana Lucía Oliveira Dos Santos, and Florasmine Exaucee Ghambou, who was using Nelha Suami Odia’s document. According to Deputy Commissioner Rolando Balbuena of the Airport Police Directorate, experts confirmed that the passports were genuine booklets issued by Brazil but belonged to third parties.
The case highlights a specific form of document fraud: it does not involve physically falsifying the passport, but rather the improper use of another person’s identity. Commissioner Luis Pizzani, also of the Airport Police, explained that “this is a case of improper use of documents; it is completely genuine, but it does not belong to the bearer.” This distinction requires immigration officers to rigorously compare travelers’ facial features with the image printed in the document, since electronic validation of the chip or of the paper’s security features may be approved.
During the procedure, one of the suspects tried to flee. She said she needed to go out to exchange money and, taking advantage of a lapse in attention, left the passport on the counter and ran toward the outdoor parking area. Airport police officers pursued and restrained the woman a few meters from the site.
Preliminary investigations indicate that the two foreign nationals entered Paraguay by land through the Friendship Bridge in Ciudad del Este, coming from Brazil. Authorities believe the country was used only as a transit platform to facilitate the trip to Europe. So far, the detainees have not explained how they obtained the Brazilian passports.
The incident was reported to Luque duty prosecutor Jorge Escobar, who ordered that the two women remain in police custody and summoned them to give statements before the Public Prosecutor’s Office. The investigation seeks to determine whether they acted alone or whether an organized structure was behind the acquisition and use of the stolen identities.