LONDON: Allegations that refugees granted asylum in the past few years in Germany have been leaving their host country and selling their newly acquired passport and documents on are being investigated.

German Federal police have circulated a memo warning that some Syrian and Iraqi asylum seekers who have left Germany have sold their travel documents so others to gain entry with a fake identity.

The alert published in German “Der Spiegel” news magazine said that German travel documents have been offered for sale on social media. The article also reported that a large number of Syrians and Iraqis had reported the loss or theft of their documents in Turkey.

The German interior ministry has recorded more than 500 cases of arrivals using travel documents that did not belong to them.

The “Der Spiegel” report also that some refugees have sold their travel documents to people smugglers, who have gone on to offer the documents to those desperate to leave their country.