Asylum Briton found with 452 fake passports
Daily Mail | 04.08.2005 22:28
Something to keep in mind when the media and people who brought us "Iraq has WMD!!" assures you that so-and-so committed an act of terror based on the passport miraculously found at the scene. In an age of rampant forgeries all a passport found at the scene of a crime tells you is who is supposed to take the blame, not who really committed the crime.
Asylum Briton found with 452 fake passports
07:46am 4th August 2005
Arrested: Mahieddine Daikh with 452 passports
A Briton arrested in Thailand sits at a table with 452 fake European Union passports that were found in his luggage.
Algerian-born Mahieddine Daikh - an asylum seeker who was given a new life in Britain - was pictured yesterday after being stopped at Bangkok Airport by immigration officials as he prepared to board a flight to the UK.
Last night, the 35-year-old was being questioned about the high-quality forgeries of French, Belgian, Portuguese and Spanish passports. With the focus of the London bombings investigation on forged documents and the ease of movements of suspects using EU documentation, details of the arrest were being monitored by Scotland Yard.
Four of the alleged members of the July 21 failed bomb cell had been given sanctuary in Britain and at least one had arrived with false papers in a bogus name and nationality.
Daikh - who came to Britain claiming to be fleeing persecution in Algeria seven years ago - told Thai immigration authorities he was granted citizenship two years ago. When arrested, he was carrying his new British passport, issued in February this year.
For the past six months, he has been sharing a flat in Wandsworth, South London, which is paid for by the taxpayer. Thai investigators said Daikh claimed he was paid £15,000 to take the forged passports to a contact in Glasgow. He claimed he picked them up on the Thai holiday island of Samui, paying a Pakistani man £3,000 for them.
Major General Suwat Thamrongsisakul, of the airport's immigration bureau, said Daikh was not being treated as a terrorist but officials were investigating to see whether there were any possible links.
He said Thai police would be liaising with British detectives.
'Mossad spies' jailed over New Zealand passport fraud
David Fickling in Sydney
Friday July 16, 2004
The Guardian
The prime minister of New Zealand angrily denounced Israel and imposed diplomatic sanctions on it after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for trying on false grounds to obtain a New Zealand passport.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1262362,00.html
World: Middle East
Canada probes Israel passport claim
The Canadian Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, has ordered an investigation into allegations that Israeli secret service members are still using Canadian passports for covert operations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/208368.stm
07:46am 4th August 2005
Arrested: Mahieddine Daikh with 452 passports
A Briton arrested in Thailand sits at a table with 452 fake European Union passports that were found in his luggage.
Algerian-born Mahieddine Daikh - an asylum seeker who was given a new life in Britain - was pictured yesterday after being stopped at Bangkok Airport by immigration officials as he prepared to board a flight to the UK.
Last night, the 35-year-old was being questioned about the high-quality forgeries of French, Belgian, Portuguese and Spanish passports. With the focus of the London bombings investigation on forged documents and the ease of movements of suspects using EU documentation, details of the arrest were being monitored by Scotland Yard.
Four of the alleged members of the July 21 failed bomb cell had been given sanctuary in Britain and at least one had arrived with false papers in a bogus name and nationality.
Daikh - who came to Britain claiming to be fleeing persecution in Algeria seven years ago - told Thai immigration authorities he was granted citizenship two years ago. When arrested, he was carrying his new British passport, issued in February this year.
For the past six months, he has been sharing a flat in Wandsworth, South London, which is paid for by the taxpayer. Thai investigators said Daikh claimed he was paid £15,000 to take the forged passports to a contact in Glasgow. He claimed he picked them up on the Thai holiday island of Samui, paying a Pakistani man £3,000 for them.
Major General Suwat Thamrongsisakul, of the airport's immigration bureau, said Daikh was not being treated as a terrorist but officials were investigating to see whether there were any possible links.
He said Thai police would be liaising with British detectives.
'Mossad spies' jailed over New Zealand passport fraud
David Fickling in Sydney
Friday July 16, 2004
The Guardian
The prime minister of New Zealand angrily denounced Israel and imposed diplomatic sanctions on it after two suspected Mossad agents were jailed for six months for trying on false grounds to obtain a New Zealand passport.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1262362,00.html World: Middle East
Canada probes Israel passport claim
The Canadian Foreign Minister, Lloyd Axworthy, has ordered an investigation into allegations that Israeli secret service members are still using Canadian passports for covert operations.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/208368.stm
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