Cork gardaí 'at a loss' over man who had passports in names of two babies who died in the 50s

Det Garda Hanley said the accused 'held an Irish passport for 30 years but only recently obtained a PPS number'

The new charge brought on Tuesday against the unidentified defendant states that on September 11 this year at the passport office on South Mall, Cork, he provided information or documents which were false or misleading, in connection with a passport application. File picture: Denis Minihane

International investigations into a 70-year-old man with an American accent who was arrested in Cork have now established that he had passports in the names of two babies who died within three months of birth in 1952 and 1953.

“We are at a loss as to who this person is. He has offered us no assistance whatsoever,” Detective Garda Padraic Hanley of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said on Tuesday.