Two east London men who supplied tens of thousands of fake identity documents to criminals have been jailed for their part in a lucrative fraud operation uncovered by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Bilal Iqbal, 25, of Ilford, and Ummad Ahmed, 32, of Hornchurch, were each sentenced to six years in prison at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Wednesday, May 22.
They were found to have produced and sold over 40,000 fake driving licences and ID cards over an eight-year period, generating more than £1 million in profits. The court heard the forged documents were so convincing they could pass as real unless inspected by a trained expert.
£70 per licence – and more for extras
Investigators revealed the pair charged £70 for a fake driving licence, with additional fees for holographic stickers, raised text, and other deceptive features. The illicit funds were laundered through a bogus window cleaning business.
At the time of his arrest on January 21, 2025, Iqbal was preparing to board a flight to Dubai and was carrying 19 fake UK driving licences in envelopes. A further 21 forged licences were found in his car and home.
A raid on Ahmed’s home in Hornchurch uncovered an entire forgery lab, including:
Linked to International Drug Trafficker
The forgery operation came to light during a wider investigation into international drug trafficker Eddie Burton, who used a fake ID from the duo to travel across Europe while importing over 300kg of Class A drugs into the UK.
The NCA said the documents enabled criminals to evade arrest, smuggle people, and operate under false identities for years.
NCA Statement
John Turner, Senior Investigating Officer at the NCA, said:
“These men ran an extremely lucrative illegal enterprise and operated as professional enablers at the heart of serious and organised crime.
These IDs helped high-profile criminals evade law enforcement and operate anonymously. They could also be used by offenders involved in organised immigration crime to provide people smuggled into the country with false UK identities.”
He added that disrupting enablers like Iqbal and Ahmed is vital to the NCA’s mission to combat serious organised crime.
