Wednesday September 27, 2006 

An international border security exercise has detected numerous cases of New Zealand passports being used illegally.
 
Immigration Minister David Cunliffe said today the extent of passport fraud - 99 cases in five months - was a concern. The detection rate showed the exercise run by New Zealand, Australia and the United States was working. While some of those 99 cases may be mistakes, others will be genuine cases of passport fraud. It's obviously a concern, but it's a good thing we're catching them.

The 99 New Zealand passports had been reported as lost or stolen but later used for travel, in many cases innocently. None of the 99 passports were obtained by someone fraudulently applying to the Department of Internal Affairs.

New Zealand joined the border security exercise in March. A US Embassy spokeswoman said border authorities were very happy with the way the system was working.