Dutch border police have arrested a 19-year-old man who forged hundreds of European identity papers and sold them on social media, in one of the biggest cases of its kind, broadcaster NOS reported on Friday.

The man, who lives in the vicinity of Deventer, sold the fake IDs mainly to teenagers so they could use them to prove they were 18 and old enough to buy alcohol, or go to festivals.

Detectives started an investigation when the identity fraud expertise centre ECID received several fake IDs that seemed to have been made in the same way, and eventually tracked down the maker.

Following the arrest, police carried out searches at homes in Arnhem and Deventer where they found a number of fake IDs and equipment to make them.

The police and border police come across documents that have been tampered with in some way almost every day, with 3,400 cases last year. They found a record 1,598 fake documents, mainly passports, drivers licences and ID cards, during checks at airports and on the borders with Germany and Belgium