SKN Passports Caught Up in Turkey’s Private Jet Asylum Scam

Saint Kitts and Nevis just got name-dropped in one messy international trafficking scandal and it is not a good look 👀

Back in 2021, nine Iraqi nationals hopped on a private jet out of Istanbul, rolling up like they were some high-level diplomatic delegation. The passports they were flashing? Saint Kitts and Nevis diplomatic passports. Fake, of course — but the documents were convincing enough to get them straight into Italy, where they all claimed asylum like it was business as usual.

The wild part? Turkish officials allegedly let it all slide. Customs? Immigration? Everyone looked the other way, reportedly thanks to a few well-placed bribes 💸

The whole scheme only came to light when an aviation company realised it had been conned out of $35,000 in charter fees. When they tried to get justice in Turkey, prosecutors basically shrugged and said, “Not our problem.”

Fast forward: Europol and police across Italy, Germany, France, Austria and Belgium later busted a wider network running the same game — fake Caribbean diplomatic passports, private jets, and a $10,000 ticket price for migrants. But notice who was missing from that big European press conference? Yep… Turkey 🇹🇷

Now the case is back in Turkish courts, but many doubt it’ll go anywhere, given the political stakes. Meanwhile, Saint Kitts and Nevis finds itself in headlines for all the wrong reasons. Even though the documents were forged, the fact traffickers chose SKN passports tells you everything about how valuable and credible they’re seen globally 🌍

And that’s the headache: every time the SKN passport gets dragged into scams like this, it chips away at the reputation of the whole programme.