Passports prized on black market

By EUGENE BINGHAM and JOHN ANDREWS

Stolen and forged New Zealand passports are fetching about $60,000 on an international black market for criminals eager to assume new identities.

About 12,000 passports are lost or stolen each year, alarming senior police who are increasingly concerned about whose hands the documents are ending up in.

The Department of Internal Affairs says it is aware of cases where passports have been used illegally overseas, but says it does not consider the number disappearing is particularly high.

But a senior police source in Wellington told the Weekend Herald passports were a sought-after document in the criminal underworld.

"Indications are that they are being used for transnational crime," said the source. "They use stolen identities for people-smuggling, drug-smuggling and immigration fraud.

"New Zealanders, unlike others, do not have much concern about passports being a valued property item. As a result, we are now reaping the cost and consequences, because our passports are being targeted by people who think they are reasonably accessible."

It was not just the stolen passports which were being misused - police knew of cases where people filed false reports about their passports going missing because they had sold or given them to others.

"Passports are a starting point - with them you can get bank accounts, driving licences and use them for other identity fraud," said one source.

New Zealand passports also helped foreign students dupe academic institutions about their citizenship to avoid paying high fees.

Several sources said the passports were fetching about $US35,000-$US40,000 ($63,000-$71,000) internationally.

Figures for the past three years show more than 8000 passports a year were reported missing and another 3500 reported stolen. More than 300,000 passports are issued each year.

Internal Affairs spokesman Tony Wallace said the figures had not changed much over recent years. On a per capita basis they were about the same as other first world nations, he said.

"People lose passports for a range of reasons," said Mr Wallace. "Sometimes it is a case of a person not being able to find their passport after a long period of not using it. If someone loses all their travel belongings or they are stolen, then the passport may be included. This doesn't necessarily indicate the passport is being targeted."

In Australia, the federal police and criminal intelligence agencies say identity fraud is a major problem internationally.

Federal Agent Tim Morris, director of national investigations, told a parliamentary committee in Canberra last year that stolen and forged passports were not just used for travel.

Because passports were so well accepted as an authentic personal document, they were often used as a fake form of identity for a whole range of things. "We see criminals utilising false identities on a regular basis across a full range of transnational crime activities," said Mr Morris.

"If the individual can conceal their true identity they have a greater chance of success in their criminal venture. They have a greater chance of evading the various trip-wires we can put in place throughout society."

New Zealand's national crime manager, Detective Superintendent Rob Pope, said police worked closely with Internal Affairs and the Immigration Service to combat identity fraud.

"The link between security matters and fraudulent use of passports is acknowledged and one which we constantly monitor," said Mr Pope.

An Auckland police source said some burglars went specifically looking for passports.

"Those passports are going somewhere. Why else would you steal one?" he said.

"We know they're being used to travel around Asia. A lot of our false passports are being picked up by Australian border authorities."

The New Zealand passport was valuable because it did not attract official attention, another source said.

"If you are on a Columbian, Iraqi or Bolivian passport, it is more likely to be checked and scrutinised.

"It's likely some [NZ] passports are used by [drug] couriers who never come to New Zealand."

Mr Wallace said that people should alert Internal Affairs as soon as they knew their passport was missing or stolen.

Alerts were put out at the New Zealand border, but not overseas, although Mr Wallace said the department worked closely with international border control agencies.

"For example, we provide them with information about the features of the New Zealand passport so there is an increased likelihood of anything out of the ordinary being detected."