Islamists may have entered US with fake Syria passports

The Islamic State (ISIS) in all likelihood has access to blank Syrian passports and printing machines and the terror group’s followers may have entered the US using the authentic-looking passports, according to a media report.

A 17-page US homeland security investigations intelligence report, issued to law enforcement last week, said the ISIS likely has been able to print legitimate-looking Syrian passports since taking over the city of Deir ez-Zour, home to a passport office with “boxes of blank passports” and a passport printing machine, ABC News reported.

Another passport office was located in Raqqa, Syria, which has long been the ISIS in Iraq and Syria’s de facto capital.

“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 travelled to the US,” the report is quoted as saying.

The report notes that the primary source for the information was rated at “moderate confidence”, the second-highest rating given for source assessments. Testifying before legislators on Wednesday, FBI director James Comey first publicly talked about the nation’s top security officials’ anxiety over the problem. “The intelligence community is concerned that they (ISIS) have the ability, the capability to manufacture fraudulent passports, which is a concern in any setting,” Mr Comey said.