Terrorist Document Indicators - Multimedia Counterterrorism Calendar

Indicators of False Travel Documents

Ahmed Ressam, sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2005 for planning to bomb Los Angeles International Airport on 31 December 1999, acquired this ostensibly genuine Canadian passport by using a fraudulent baptismal certificate; the obscured name was Western-sounding in an attempt to evade scrutiny at the border.

Stolen South African passport

These passports were seized by French authorities as part of a group of 5,000 blank French passports stolen on 22 July 2003 in Marseilles.

1	Physically altered passports

2	Passports with serial numbers that are watch-listed as lost or stolen

3	Handwritten documents that are easily forged or altered

4	Multiple passports used by the same person with variations in the spelling/structure of the name and of date of birth

5	Ambiguous or contradictory information submitted to consular or border control officials

6	Absence of supporting documents to corroborate passport information

7	Passports with glued-in photographs

8	Large gaps in travel history as reflected in stamps and visas

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