Alleged passport fraudster wanted by police

Cristian Dario Alcalde, a 42 year old Iranian, is wanted by police on passport-related fraud. Photo / supplied

An illegal immigrant who gained New Zealand residency with a false Australian passport - and was charged with holding three other false passports - is on the run.

Cristian Dario Alcalde was due to stand trial on six passport-related charges after his arrest and was initially denied bail as he is considered a flight risk.

He was charged with possession of two false New Zealand passports, prized as a travel document worldwide, and conspiring to obtain more but was later released to a Henderson home monitored by electronic bail.

The 42-year-old left the address on August 8 and has not been seen since according to the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand.

The agency would not comment on the possibility that Alcalde has left the country.

Two years ago, a Herald investigation revealed that he was living in New Zealand under a false identity.

He had managed to obtain residency status because he was an Australian citizen, until the Australian authorities discovered the Alcalde identity was false and his passport - a copy of which has been obtained under the Official Information Act - was revoked in November 2011.

But he was still able to fly from Auckland to Thailand a few months later on the invalid travel document.

The case highlighted a border-control loophole in which someone can use a revoked foreign passport unless New Zealand authorities have been formally notified.

New Zealand police alerted Thai authorities and his false Australian passport was seized in Bangkok. He was deported to Iran where he threatened to return to New Zealand.

Alcalde was able to fly back to Christchurch undetected in late August 2012 using a British passport, police allege.

He was arrested a week later in Auckland by detectives from the Organised and Financial Crime Agency of New Zealand and charged with two counts of using a forged passport.

Nine further charges were laid later, including the alleged possession of two New Zealand passports.

Asked how Alcalde was able to leave New Zealand using a cancelled passport, a spokeswoman said Immigration NZ was not notified by Australian passport fraud investigators until February 16 - a month after he had departed.

She confirmed that there was no shared computer system for passports with Australia or any other country.

Alcalde was also able to slip back into New Zealand despite a law change that allow the collection of biometric information, such as fingerprints and photographs, to be shared with countries such as Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States.

The Herald can also reveal he changed his name in New Zealand by deed poll to Christian Daneshian, the name under which he is listed in electoral rolls at an Auckland address.

Cristian Dario Alcalde

Iranian national who gained New Zealand residency because of his Australian citizenship.

2011: Changed his name to Christian Daneshian. Australian passport was discovered to be false and revoked. But Alcalde was able to leave New Zealand because Immigration authorities not told about false passport. Arrested in Bangkok and deported to Iran.

2012: Able to return to New Zealand under a British passport in the name Pasha Aghayev. Arrested a week later and charged with using false passports.

2014: Alcalde absconds from his e-bail address. Police say the 42-year-old uses aliases using combinations of first name of Cristian or Bahram and surnames Alcalde, Abbasi or Daneshiyan.

*Anyone with information regarding the whereabouts of Alcalde can contact investigators through the website www.ofcanz.govt.nz or the Crime Stoppers Line on 0800 555 111