Stolen passports could be used in fraud or terrorism

[30 July 2008]

Approximately 3,000 blank biometric passports stolen on Monday are 'very likely to be destined for criminals, possibly even terrorists'.

Former Scotland Yard detective Tim Craig said that it's likely the raid was carried out by a gang who had inside knowledge about the shipment. The van carrying the passports was hijacked outside a shop in Oldham, Greater Manchester, while the driver went to buy a newspaper. The documents would be worth £2.5million on the black market. The Foreign Office has said that as the passports don't contain any personal details, it was be very difficult to personalise the documents. The serial numbers of the stolen passports will also be entered into the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) System, so that anyone attempting to travel with these stolen passports will be stopped. The IPS maintain that the passports will be 'unusable', although security industry experts have said that the right equipment could enable the documents to be forged and used to commit crime.

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