ISIS has acquired a printing machine that is helping them to make ‘authentic’ Syrian passports – what could possibly go wrong?
Islamic State has at least one specialized printing machine used to print authentic Syrian passports and plenty of blanks, US law enforcement agencies warned. Fraudulent passports would help terrorist infiltrators pose as refugees from Syria.
The concern that Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) can print authentic-looking passports was made public by FBI Director James Comey, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
“The intelligence community is concerned that they [IS] have the ability, the capability to manufacture fraudulent passports, which is a concern in any setting,” Comey told the legislators.
The threat was highlighted last week in a 17-page security bulletin sent by the Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) to law enforcement, which said IS procured at least one passport printing machine during a raid on the city of Deir ez-Zour last summer, reported ABC News, which obtained the document.
“Since more than 17 months [have] passed since Raqqa and Deir ez-Zour fell to ISIS, it is possible that individuals from Syria with passports ‘issued’ in these ISIS controlled cities or who had passport blanks, may have traveled to the US,” the report warned.
Read more: RT
