Passport Paradox

35 year old Mahieddine Daikh of Algerian origin (?) was arrested at Bangkok's Don Muang airport on 2nd August, in the latest incident of document forging in Thailand, with 452 fake passports from France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium. He said he had been promised £15,000 to take the passports into London. He was routed to fly into Glasgow. Daikh is reported to have told the Bangkok Police that he had lived in London for 7 years and was granted British citizenship two years ago. The passports are said to be worth £2,000 each in the UK market.

According to a senior Thai police official, quoted in the Guradian and Sydney Morning Herald, "We will not prosecute him unless one of the embassies [of the countries whose passports were forged] files a formal complaint. If they do not, we will revoke his visa and return him [to Britain].

A Foreign Office spokeswoman admitted the cool, calm, Mr Daikh would not be arrested on his return to the UK. "He could not be prosecuted in Britain for this offence," she said. When asked if he would therefore be free, she replied: "That's what is likely to happen."

Now the 8th August and no press reports available on the web suggest the Thai authorities have taken any action. ... Watch this space.

Three Irish republicans Niall Connolly, James Monaghan and Martin McCauley found guilty of supporting terrorism in Colombia have returned to the Irish Republic, it is presumed in press reports, with false documentation.When arrested at El Dorado airport, Bogota, in August 2001 as they prepared to board a flight out of the country, they were found to be using forged documents. Niall Connolly He was traveling on a false passport in the name of David Bracken, James Monaghan who used a passport with the alias Edward J Campbell and Martin (Mortar) McCauley 38, who used the alias John Joseph Kelly.

Because two of the three were traveling on falsified British passports the first information about the arrests was received by the British embassy in Bogota when a weekend duty officer received a call from Colombian authorities.


London bombing suspect Hussain Osman, 27, currently detained in Rome, is thought to have travelled there from Britain using a fake Italian passport.

In 1999, two al-Qaeda members used fake Belgian passports to enter Pakistan before travelling into Afghanistan, where they assassinated Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the US-backed Northern Alliance

The Evening Standard Thursday 14th April 2005 detailed the false documentation of the people arrested in the "Ricin factory case" - "The eight with fake IDs who found a home in Britain" Alistar Foster Evening Standard, page 5

* Mustapha Taleb, 35, Algerian - "false French passport"

* Mouloud Sihali, 29, Algerian - "admitted having a false French ID and using a fake Italian ID card." "Bought a fake UK passport for £280"

* David Aissa Khalif, 33 Algerian - "fake passport (unspecified) and Italian driving licence". "Admitted possessing six French and Belgian passport"

* Sidali Feddag, 20, Algerian - "entered the country aged 17 on his father's passport in 2000"

* Kamel Mezoug, 34, Algerian - "granted asylum in 2001 and issued with a UK passport in his own name" - Admitted to "using two false identities after he was granted asylum"

* Samir Ali, 31, Algerian - "Owned three fake passports - Spanish, Italian and French"

* Mouloud Bouhrama, 33, Algerian - "Now facing trial for possessing a false passport" (type not specified). "Had at least six false identies" (presumably none of them British ones).

* Khalid Alwerfeli, 31, Libyan - "facing trial for possessing a false passport" (presumably not a UK one) "Entered the UK using a forged ID card" "Had two aliases" (not illegal if they are not used to defraud or mislead)

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS ) with the UK Immigration Service (UKIS), UK Passport Service (UKPS) and the Crown prosecution Service (CPS) targeting set up Operation Maxim to combat organised immigration crime in London in response to the tragic of 58 Chinese migrants in a container lorry at Dover in June 2000.

Maxim officers carried out nearly a hundred operations in 2004. They made over 150 arrests, and seized over £200,000. In addition, £2.7 million has been restrained under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). A further £5.4 million in assets has been identified and over £12,000 has been forfeited.

The majority of cases dealt with by Maxim involve identity document fraud of some description.

In 2004 the following seizures were made of documents that were either forged or obtained by obtained by fraud;
· 394 Passports
· 156 UK National Insurance Cards
· 46 UK Driving Licenses
· 19 Other UK based ID documents
· 8200 Non UK ID documents
· 30 Immigration stamps
also seized were:-
· 6 Laminators
· 38 Computers

Therefore even if a perfect United Kindom ID Card or Biometric Passport systems magically eliminated all false UK Passports and identity documents, the vast majority of false or fake ID used by foreign illegal immigrants would still be "Non UK" i.e. it would make virtually no difference at all.