SAN FERNANDO VALLEY : 8 Suspected of Running Counterfeit Document Ring

A sophisticated counterfeiting ring in Canoga Park produced thousands of fake driver’s license, immigration cards and other documents that were almost impossible to distinguish from genuine documents, the Los Angeles Police Department said Friday.

Eight suspects, believed to be Mexicans, were arrested Thursday on suspicion of forgery of state documents, said Detective Bob Graybill of the auto theft task force.

The ring is believed to have produced $8,000 a week in counterfeit documents, including driver’s licenses, immigration cards, Social Security cards, certificates of title for vehicles and birth certificates from the United States and Mexico, Graybill said.

Acting on a tip, an undercover officer from the Department of Motor Vehicles bought a fake driver’s license for $60 and other phony documents from several of the suspects in a parking lot outside a meat market in Canoga Park, Graybill said. The documents were produced at a nearby apartment where authorities later seized cameras, printers and cutting and laminating machines, Graybill said.