A Terrebonne man charged nearly three years ago with attempted forgery and smuggling of counterfeit IDs from China into Canada was sentenced to 30 months in jail last month following a guilty plea at the Palais de Justice in Laval.
Jonghun Lee, 38, was attempting to smuggle more than 1,000 counterfeit pieces, including Canadian citizenship and resident status cards, as well as Alberta and British Columbia driver’s licenses.
The Canada Border Services Agency intercepted a courier parcel he was due to receive from China in January 2022, according to the CBSA.
The CBSA said that once opened at their Montréal–Mirabel International Airport office, the package was seen to contain 509 counterfeit blank Canada permanent residency cards and 506 counterfeit blank Alberta driver’s licences.
A later search of his home by CBSA agents led to the discovery of document-forging equipment, partly finished counterfeit IDs, and close to $140,000 in Canada and U.S. currency.
Also seized during the CBSA’s search operation were printing presses used to counterfeit money, as well as computers and cellphones.
The CBSA said Lee was also convicted of forging documents, including work permits, with the intention they would be used or acted upon by users as genuine.
In a published report Dec. 3 on alleged child-labour violations at a meat processing facility in the U.S. state of Iowa, the New York Times cited a former U.S. Labor Dept. division head who suggested the rising prevalence of false IDs is symptomatic of an underlying problem faced by employers.
“Individuals, including minors, obtaining jobs through their use of fraudulent identification documents,” said Paul DeCamp.
