An intelligence report obtained by ABC warned ISIS might have technology that allows them to print passports. The terror group seized the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zour last summer which housed a passport office with “boxes of blank passports”, the report said. Another passport workplace was located in Raqqa, Syria, which has always been ISIS’s de facto capital.
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Two of the suicide bombers in the recent Paris terror attacks are believed to have used fake Syrian passports.
Maine Independent Sen. Angus Kind told CNN’s Brianna Keilar Friday that the U.S.is moving toward developing passports with chips that have biometric data that can not be faked.
Following the conquest of Deir ez-Zour and Raqqa in Syria, authorities believe ISIS was able to acquire numerous blank passports, as well as passport printing machines, from government offices.
They’ve also entered information on the 3,800 fake passports investigators have tracked into USA databases, although it wasn’t clear from the report if those 3,800 fake passports have turned up in the U.S.
While the report notes that they were “moderately confident” in the information, Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey testified before lawmakers on Wednesday saying that the country’s top security officials are concerned.
“The intelligence community is concerned that they [ISIS] have the ability, the capability to manufacture fraudulent passports, which is a concern in any setting”, Comey said.
The ICE document includes a concern that it is possible someone “may have traveled to the U.S.” using a fake passport, according to an ABC quote of the report.
The UK Daily Mail is one of many media outlets whose reporters were able to easily purchase fake passports in Syria.
According to ABC News Thursday, the USA intelligence report pointed to an incident where a Syrian passport discovered in Turkey was printed with a designator number that indicated it was printed in an ISIS-controlled area earlier this year.
The HSI report’s last page contains a warning: “If ISIS ability to produce passports is not controlled, their operations will continue to increase and expand outside of their operational controlled areas”.
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However, the president has maintained his administration has a solid screening plan to accept the 10,000 refugees from Syria in addition to the 70,000 refugees fleeing war and religious persecution, the US regularly accepts from around the world.
