Poor UK postal security lets criminals grap passports
Thousands of passports could be falling into the hands of terrorists and criminal gangs because of poor postal security, it has emerged.
Almost 3,000 passports went missing in the post after the passport agency dispatched them last year, according to newly released government figures.
The Home Office is so concerned about large-scale identity theft it is planning to introduce sophisticated biometric elements to passports, such as prints of the iris in the eye. It will also make the use of false identity documents an arrestable offence under amendments to the Criminal Justice Act.
Passports are still sent by first-class post, which leaves no record of their movement if they go astray. Special delivery is available, but only for an additional fee. The figures show that 2,359 passports went missing in 1999, 3,851 the following year, 2,541 in 2001 and 2,982 last year.
“Either there is incompetence on the part of Royal Mail sorting offices when they are delivering passports to customers, or there is a black-market trade in stolen passports,” said Paul Burstow, the Liberal Democrat MP, who received the figures in a parliamentary answer from the Home Office minister Beverley Hughes. “Either way, an inquiry must be launched into why so many official documents are disappearing without a trace.”
He added: “In these times of heightened security and risk from terrorist threat, it is scandalous that so many passports could be falling into the wrong hands and potentially being used fraudulently.”
Mr Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam, is trying to find out how many more passports are lost by the agency itself and by other authorities, such as the driver and vehicle licensing agency.
He said: “Registered post would at least provide an audit trail, so that we know where things went missing. But it is not enough on its own. Banks go out of their way to disguise the mail-out of cheque cards and so on.”
A fresh passport is said to be worth up to pounds 1,000 on the black market.
A Home Office spokesman said: “Every year the UK issues up to 5.5m passports, so, put into context, the number that goes missing is very small. We are talking with the Royal Mail about moving to secure delivery of all passports by autumn or winter this year.”
The additional security is likely to further increase the price of passports, which already cost from pounds 33 for adults.
guardian.co.uk/post
(c) The Guardian
