Judge criticises issuing of false passports

THE system of issuing passports in Britain is wide open to abuse, a Circuit Court judge said yesterday as it emerged that a man out on parole for murder could get a false passport and travel to Ireland to take part in drug smuggling.

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin made these comments in Cork Circuit Criminal Court at the end of the €1.2bn cocaine trial that was peppered with references to false passports and passports issued to various aliases of some of the drug smugglers.

“It is significant the ease with which false passports can be obtained in Britain — three for Wanden, Wharrie has one, and mention of others. A judge should be slow to comment on facts outside the case — and all the more so on matters outside this jurisdiction — but it does appear that the system of issuing passports in Britain is wide open to abuse.