Steps taken to check Travel on Fake Passports

The number of  cases of forgeries/fake passports detected at Bureau of Immigration during the last three are as under:-

Year	No of fake/forged passport cases
2009	154
2010	320
2011	220

          All the detected cases of forgeries/fake passports are reported to the local police having jurisdiction in the area of the Immigration check Post and criminal cases under the relevant section of law are registered and investigated by the local police.

            A number of steps have been taken by the Government to prevent travel by persons on forged/fake documents. These steps include:

(i)     Use of Ultra-violet Lamps, magnifying glasses and specimen copies of travel documents for comparison at all the Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) for scrutinizing the features of the travel documents;

(ii)   Installation of Passport Reading Machines (PRMs) and Questionable Document Examiner (QDX) Machines at major ICPs for detection of sophisticated forgeries in the travel documents;

(iii) Installation of Immigration Control System (ICS) Software which verifies the passport details of passengers to prevent impersonation;

            Special training is also imparted to Immigration Officers manning immigration counters at the ICPs on a regular basis to detect forged/fake documents.

This was stated by Shri Mullappally Ramachandran, Minister of State of Home Affairs in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.