Spain busts terrorist passport-stealing ring
Spanish police have arrested seven men suspected of having links to a Pakistani militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks; the six Pakistanis and one north African are believed to be part of European network based in Barcelona that stole passports to order for the “World Islamic Front” a group connected to al Qaeda; members of the theft ring were tasked with stealing 40 passports a month, and they stole the passports from those whose age and nationality would best enable terrorists to use the falsified documents to travel freely across borders; the group sent the passports to be forged in Thailand from where they were distributed to criminal groups around the world including radical Islamic cells
Do you know where key components of the new U.S. e-passport are being assembled? In Thailand. This may not be a very good idea. Six month ago we wrote:
Security experts have warned about the security risks for a while now, but a U.S. government contractor is still assembling a key passport component in Thailand. The Government Printing Office (GPO) inspector general has warned the GPO lacks a basic security plan for protecting blank e-Passports from theft by terrorists, foreign spies, or counterfeiters (“Despite warnings, sensitive components of U.S. e-Passport are assembled in Thailand,” 15 June 2010 HSNW).
Now we have more evidence why this is a bad idea.
Spanish police have arrested seven men suspected of having links to a Pakistani militant group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
The six Pakistanis and one north African are believed to be part of European network based in Barcelona that stole passports to order for the “World Islamic Front” a group connected to al Qaeda.
The group sent the passports to be forged in Thailand from where they were distributed to criminal groups around the world including radical Islamic cells based in Pakistan and to Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers.
The Telegraph reports that police believe documents forged by the group were delivered to members of the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) that has been accused of plotting the Mumbai attacks in which at least 166 people were killed during three days of violence in November 2008.
Spain’s interior ministry named the seven held in Barcelona as Junaid Humayun, Atiqur Rehman, Jabran Ashgar, Malik Iftikhar Ahmad, Mohammad Saddique Khan Begum, Tanveer Arshad – all Pakistanis – and Nigerian-born Babatunde Agunbiade.
The ministry added that the arrests were part of an international operation that also led to three being detained in Thailand, two Pakistanis including the presumed head of the network, and a Thai national. They were named as Sirikanlaya Kijbumrung, and Pakistanis Muhammad Athar Butt and Zeeshan Ehsan Butt.
Police said the group targeted tourists in Barcelona, robbing the passports of those whose age and nationality would best enable terrorists to use the falsified documents to travel freely across borders.
“This large-scale operation neutralizes an important cell providing passports to al-Qaeda, weakening the falsification apparatus of this organization at an international level, and as such its operational capabilities,” a statement from ministry said.
The raids staged Tuesday night and Wednesday morning after eighteen months of surveillance led to the seizure of stolen passports, hard drives and more than fifty mobile phones and SIM cards.
Police estimated that the group were responsible for the theft of around forty passports a month.
