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Robbers have hijacked three thousand blank passports from a van near Manchester, which are worth more than millions. Sky's Tom Parmenter reports.
A passport costs 72 pounds. Its value to criminals is much higher. Greater Manchester Police don't yet know if the robbers knew what they were after when they targeted the vehicle that had barely started its journey. The Citroen van carrying boxes of blank passports and blank stickers for visa stamps left the factory in Gorse Street, Chadderton at 6:30 yesterday morning and stopped half a mile away on Long Lane. The driver went into a newsagent’s to buy a paper. His coworker, who stayed in the van, was then confronted by two men and hijacked.
No personal details have been lost in this robbery. The passports themselves were blanks. But despite reassurances that the micro-chips in them were encrypted, there is still concern that they could be used in all sorts of illegal activity. "With the passports that have been stolen, It's an obvious sure consideration that they will be used by criminals. A passport can be a valuable commodity. When the actual value of the passports stolen themselves is over two million pounds, maybe toward two and a half million." The price on the streets is partly determined by its value outside the UK's borders.
Officials here say you couldn't get in or out of Britain on one of the stolen passports. But it could be used to fool banks and other institutions to create false identities. "It only takes one passport to be used unlawfully to cause major problems. And here you have three thousand and that's why it's extremely important that we know as much information about these blank passports as possible: Did they contain numbers? What are the numbers? Because the people who targeted this particular van will know what to do with them."
The serial numbers that were on the stolen passports are now being collated and will be sent out to ports and airports. But it may be months or years before the stolen passports surface again.
Tom Parmenter, Sky News, Oldham.
WORDS IN THE NEWS
1. after : prep
If you are after something, you are trying to get it.
eg: I did eventually find what I was after.
2. sticker : n-count
A sticker is a small piece of paper or plastic, with writing or a picture on one side, which you can stick onto a surface.
3. newsagent’s : n-count
A newsagent or a newsagent's is a shop that sells newspapers and magazines, and things such as cigarettes and sweets. (BRIT)
