Face-to-face interviews intended to tackle identity fraud

From the The Argus, first published Thursday 22nd Mar 2007.

Immigration officials are to introduce face-toface interviews for passport applicants after an al- Qaida operative plotting a terrorist attack pretended to be a Brighton man.

The Identity and Passport Service has used the case of Salaheddine Benyaich, a Moroccan national, to argue its plans for compulsory interviews are vital for boosting security.

He was issued with two UK passports in the identity of David Burgess, 32, an electrical engineer from Brighton.

Benyaich is serving 18 years in a Moroccan jail for his involvement in the 2003 Casablanca bombings but he used the fake passports to fly in and out of Western countries for almost four years prior to the bombings using Mr Burgess's name.

From later this year, all new passport applicants in Sussex will have to travel to Crawley, Hastings or Portsmouth to be quizzed on their family history, bank details and past addresses as part of a 20- minute interview.

People could be asked when and where their parents were born along with details of their past addresses and how long they lived there.

They will be quizzed on whether they have a mortgage, which bank accounts they hold and will about the person who countersigned their passport applications.

Passport officials will trawl the electoral roll and private sector databases containing credit rating information to discover the answers before the interviews takes place.

IPS executive director Bernard Herdan said personal details would be destroyed after the interviews and applicants would not be asked about their health history.

He said: "Before the interview we will have crosschecked that individual against various databases to uncover information."

Details of the new regime were published as the Government revealed an estimated 10,000 British passports were issued to fraudulent applicants last year.

Home Office Minister Joan Ryan said the IPS received 16,500 fraudulent applications between October 2005 and September last year.

The Crawley, Hastings and Portsmouth offices are among 69 that will be set up across Britain to interview about 610,000 people every year wanting to travel abroad for the first time. From 2009, the IPS will also start interviewing people who wish to renew their passports.

The regime will mean the five-day fast track service for new passports will be scrapped.

The cost of an adult ten-year passport has risen to £66 and £5.80 of it is being used to fund the new offices, background checks and face-scanning.

Do you think the new system will beat passport fraud? Have your say below.

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