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Home Office

Answer

Mr. George Osborne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many forged passports have been impounded in each year since 1997. [204452] Mr. Browne: Figures are not kept centrally within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) for the number of forged passports impounded each year. Since 1997 numbers of fraudulent travel documents detected at United Kingdom ports of entry are as follows: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number 1997 4,411 1998 6,338 1999 5,516 2000 5,394 2001 6,601 2002 9,664 2003 7,985 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Since 2001 the National Document Fraud Unit (NDFU) has had a permanent presence in the main offices of IND in Croydon, following a pilot exercise which revealed large numbers of fraudulent travel documents being submitted in support of applications for leave to remain. Fraudulent documents detected by NDFU in Croydon from 2001 are: _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Number 2001 360 2002 461 2003 837 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. The NDFU makes a significant contribution to work being carried out internationally in the EU, International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and G8 to disrupt the work of forgers and to encourage states to impound, and thereby withdraw from circulation, forged and fraudulent passports and other travel documents detected. It also works closely with travel document issuing agencies in order to combat identity fraud and support the operation of border controls.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

204452; 429 c742-3W;429 c746W

Session

2004-05

Subjects

Fraud Forgery Passports

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk