The Metropolitan Police have a web page describing Operation Maxim, which combats illegal immigrant people smugglers etc.
This is one of the areas which New Labour / Home Office claim would be addressed by their controversial ID card plans, and plans for Biometric Passports etc.
"The majority of cases dealt with by Maxim involve identity document fraud of some description.In 2004 the following seizures were made of documents that were either forged or obtained by obtained by fraud;
- 394 Passports
- 156 UK National Insurance Cards
- 46 UK Driving Licenses
- 19 Other UK based ID documents
- 8200 Non UK ID documents
- 30 Immigration stamps"
In other words, over 93% of the false or fraudulently obtained Identity Documents seized by Operation Maxim are foreign documents, over which the UK Government has no control.
Therefore even if a perfect United Kindom ID Card or Biometric Passport systems magically eliminated all false UK Passports and identity documents, the vast majority of false or fake ID used by foreign illegal immigrants would still be "Non UK" i.e. it would make virtually no difference at all.
This evidence from the Metropolitan Police themselves undermines the claims made by Sir Ian Blair, the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, in his controversial political interview with Sir David Frost last Sunday.
In that interview, Sir Ian Blair also raised the spectre of bubonic plague for no good reason, except, presumably to contribute to the "Climate of Fear".
93% So what? Presumably the aim is to (a) stop illegals and (b) identify and then get rid of those who got in? Unless you take the biew that it doesn't matter, anyway?
Jon Davies
@ jon davies - nobody is saying that such criminals should not be prosecuted.
What the figures do show is that there is no justification for claiming that fake British Passports are a big problem, or that the National Identity Register and ID Card scheme would make any difference to terrorism or serious crime or illegal immigration etc. all of which has been claimed by the Home Office.
Foreign criminals and illgal immigrants will continue to us fake or falsely obtained foreign passports over which the UK Government has no control, and which most people in the UK who ever come across them, will have no way of determining if they are fake or genuine.