Sydney arrest for using false New Zealand passport

4/12/2007
The Department of Internal Affairs is hailing the arrest of a man who tried to fly from Sydney to Fiji using a false New Zealand passport. Salesi Lei'aesola TONU, believed to be a Fijian national, has been remanded in custody until the middle of next month after appearing in court in Sydney on Friday. He has been charged with using a cancelled foreign travel document while trying to leave Australia, which has a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
The 66-year-old was charged under the Foreign Passports Law Enforcement and Security Act 2005. His arrest was the result of a joint investigation between the New Zealand Police, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
Passports Manager, David Philp, says passport fraud is a serious crime that impacts on the victims. He says past court cases have highlighted situations where people have obtained false passports by using the identity of dead people. “We take the abuse of the identities of dead people extremely seriously. It often involves the rekindling of grief and upset for families of the dead person whose identity is misused.”

Mr Philp says the latest case shows how well agencies on both sides of the Tasman are working together to stamp out passport fraud, and how seriously such incidents are taken. He says that the New Zealand passport continues to be one of the best in the world and in recent years a number of steps have been taken to improve security and stay ahead of fraudsters. These include:-

Checking new passport applications, since 2003, against death records
Introducing passports with a microchip in November 2005 for new applications
Reduction in the validity of passports from 10 years to five years.

“The Department is totally committed to preserving the integrity of the New Zealand passport,” Mr Philp says. “Our message to anyone thinking of committing this sort of fraud is: “It’s not worth the risk – don’t try it, you will be caught.”

Contact:
Marc Piercey
Senior Communications Advisor
Department of Internal Affairs
Phone 04 382 3700 (direct dial) Mobile 027 471 4173
e-mail: marc.piercey@dia.govt.nz