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Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, whose operatives have used fraudulently obtained passports for international travel, has acquired stolen blank Saudi passports, the FBI said Wednesday. In its weekly intelligence bulletin to local law enforcement officials, the FBI said the unissued Saudi passports are authentic and have key security features that allow them to pass routine examination. “Numerous al Qaeda terrorists have also carried Saudi passports issued in the Holy Capital, another term for the city of Mecca,” the FBI said.
It said past FBI intelligence bulletins have noted the use by Islamic extremists of fraudulent Pakistani passports and al Qaeda’s use of altered or fraudulent Colombian identification cards and passports. “Until recently, passports from Saudi Arabia have also been vulnerable to misuse ... because they were easily acquired under false pretense and were relatively easy to forge,” the FBI said. “Nearly one-third of the Saudi passports confiscated from suspected terrorists and examined by U.S. authorities show signs of fraudulent issuance or alteration.”
The FBI said new Saudi passports first issued in early 2002 incorporated features designed to hinder alteration. The blank passports al Qaeda acquired were from the new “E-series.” The FBI asked law enforcement authorities who encounter suspect travel documents, such as U.S. and foreign passports and visas, to contact immigration officials at the Department of Homeland Security.