國際刑警組織：假護照登機沒有你想象中那麼難
How difficult is it to board a plane with a stolen passport?
Not as hard as you might think.
In any major international airport, it's not uncommon to have your passport checked four times or more between check-in and boarding the aircraft. But if passenger documents aren't checked against Interpol's database of Stolen and Lost Travel Documents, travelers using those documents can slip through layers of security.
Reports that two passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 were traveling on stolen Austrian and Italian passports have highlighted security concerns that have troubled Interpol for years, the international law enforcement agency said Sunday. The flight, carrying over 200 passengers, disappeared from radar on Saturday and hasn't been seen or heard from since.
"Interpol is asking why only a handful of countries worldwide are taking care to make sure that persons possessing stolen passports are not boarding international flights," said Interpol Secretary General Ronald K. Noble, in a statement.
What happened to Flight 370?
Before the departure of Flight 370, no country had checked the stolen passports against Interpol's list since they were added to the lost-documents database in 2012 and 2013, Interpol said.
It is countries, not airlines, that have access to Interpol's data, and many governments don't routinely check passports against the database.
In 2013, passengers were able to board planes more than a billion times without having their travel documents checked against Interpol's data, the agency said. Airlines carried more than 3.1 billion passengers globally in 2013, according to estimates from the International Air Transport Association.
Are stolen passports related to plane's disappearance?
Investigators don't yet know if the travelers with stolen passports had anything to do with the plane's disappearance. On any given day, many people travel using stolen or fake passports for reasons that have nothing to with terrorism, aviation security expert Richard Bloom told CNN.
They might be trying to immigrate illegally to another country, or they might be smuggling stolen goods, people, drugs or weapons or trying to import otherwise legal goods without paying taxes, said Bloom, director of terrorism, intelligence and security studies at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
"For all of those reasons, the very notion that passports might be important in this particular situation may be a red herring," Bloom said.
A pilot's take: Why so few clues about missing Malaysia flight?
While it's too soon to speculate about any connection between these stolen passports and the missing plane, Interpol's Noble said the main concern remains that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport listed in Interpol's databases.
"This is a situation we had hoped never to see," he said. "For years Interpol has asked why should countries wait for a tragedy to put prudent security measures in place at borders and boarding gates?"
Few countries look up stolen passports
Interpol does not charge countries for access to its databases, but some of the 190 Interpol member countries may not have the technical capacity or resources to access the network, according to Tom Fuentes, a former FBI assistant director.
"It's just up to the will of the country to set it up and do it," Fuentes said.
Interpol's lost-document database was created in 2002, following the September 11, 2001, attacks, to help countries secure their borders. Since then, it has expanded from a few thousand passports and searches to more than 40 million entries and more than 800 million searches per year.
About 60,000 of those 800 million searches yield hits against stolen or lost documents, according to Interpol.
The United States searches the database more 250 million times annually, the United Kingdom more than 120 million times annually and the United Arab Emirates more than 50 million times annually, Interpol said. (Some 300,000 passports are lost or stolen each year in the United States, alone, according to the U.S. Department of State, which collects reports of stolen passports and sends the information to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Interpol.)
The United States routinely checks all inbound and outbound passengers on international flights against the database, said Fuentes.
"If Malaysia Airlines and all airlines worldwide were able to check the passport details of prospective passengers against Interpol's database, then we would not have to speculate whether stolen passports were used by terrorists to board MH 370," said Interpol's Noble.
The Thailand connection
The Austrian and Italian passports were stolen in Thailand in 2012 and 2013, respectively, according to Interpol.
Thailand is a booming market for stolen passports. Paul Quaglia, who has been working in the region as a security and risk analyst for 14 years, said the situation in Thailand is better than it was 5 to 10 years ago, "but still not up to international standards."
"Unfortunately, Thailand remains a robust venue for the sale of high-quality false passports (which includes altered stolen passports) and other supporting documentation," he said.
Not all "lost" passports are necessarily "stolen" passports, Quaglia said. "Some passports 'lost' are actually sold by the passport holder. Some young men and others traveling to Thailand, short on cash after extended partying and high living, can be approached to sell a passport, which can be easily replaced at embassies upon presentation of a routine 'lost passport' police report," he said.
Searching for true identities
An investigation has been launched into the Flight 370 matter with Malaysian and aviation authorities reviewing video and other documentation to try to identify not only who the passengers were that used the stolen passports, but how the illegal passports cleared security.
Interpol has said it is currently in contact with its National Central Bureaus in the involved countries to determine the true identities of the passengers who used these stolen passports to board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
Interpol's Noble urged countries and airlines to adopt routine checks against its lost and stolen document database.
"I sincerely hope that governments and airlines worldwide will learn from the tragedy of missing flight MH 370 and begin to screen all passengers' passports prior to allowing them to board flights," Noble said.
"Doing so will indeed take us a step closer to ensuring safer travel."持假護照登機到底有多難？其實不然，沒有你想象中那麼艱難。通常情況下，在任何大型國際機場，從你辦理登記手續到真正登上飛機，你大概要接受四次以上的安檢。但是如果沒有利用與國際刑警組織丟失旅行證件數據庫（SLTD）對乘客護照進行覈對，那麼你就可以利用其它有效證件躲避層層的安檢。
有報道稱，兩名乘客持盜取的奧地利和意大利護照，登上失聯的MH370班機，由此引發了公衆對困擾國際刑警組織多年的航空安全問題的關注。搭載200多名乘客的MH370的班機，3月8日從雷達中突然消失後，至今依然下落不明。
國際刑警組織祕書長Ronald K. Noble在一次聲明中表示：“國際刑警組織想問一問，爲什麼世界上只有少數國家採取嚴格的安檢措施，防止攜帶假護照的可疑人員登上國際航班。”
***MH370航班遭遇了什麼？
國際刑警組織稱，這兩份護照分別在2012年和2013年被盜，隨後就被錄入國際刑警組織丟失旅行證件數據庫。從護照信息被錄入資料庫一直到馬航MH370航班起飛，在這段時間裏沒有任何國家在資料庫中對此進行過查證。
只有政府有權使用資料庫，航空公司無法獲取這些數據。但是許多國家並沒有按時對資料庫中的信息進行覈對。
國際刑警組織估測，2013年間，世界航空運送旅客超過31億人次，在沒有利用國際刑警組織丟失旅行證件數據庫資料庫覈對護照信息的情況下，全球範圍內就有超過10億次的成功登機記錄。
***失竊護照是否與飛機失聯有關?
調查者目前還不能確定失竊護照是否與飛機失聯有關。在接受美國有線電視新聞網採訪時，航空安全專家、安伯瑞德航空大學恐怖主義、情報和安全研究中心主任，理查德·布盧姆（Richard Bloom）表示，每天人們以各種與恐怖主義無關的緣由，使用偷來的和假的護照。有時只是爲了非法偷渡到另一個國家，或者爲了處理贓物，販賣武器、人口、毒品，非法走私商品。
布盧姆說：“綜合考慮，認爲失竊護照在這起事故中意義重大的觀點，只不過是轉移公共視線的方式罷了。”
儘管現在斷定護照失竊與飛機失聯有關還爲時尚早，但是國際刑警組織祕書長Noble依然表達了對持假護照乘客能夠輕易登上國際航班問題的擔憂。
“一直以來，我們都不希望這種問題的出現。多年來，國際刑警組織一直想問問爲什麼一些國家非要等到悲劇發生之後纔開始加強安檢措施呢？”
***僅有少數國家使用國際刑警組織丟失旅行證件數據庫
據美國聯邦調查局前副局長Tom Fuentes所講，國際刑警組織不會向190個成員國收取信息使用費，但是一些成員國確實沒有技術能力使用這一網絡。
Tom Fuentes說：“這當然也取決於該國願不願意安裝和使用這些數據庫。”
9·11事件之後，國際刑警組織丟失旅行證件數據庫於2002年創建，旨在幫助世界各國維護邊境安全。自那以後，該數據庫不斷髮展。護照丟失信息記錄由幾千條擴展到超過4000萬條，每年該數據庫中搜索記錄超過8億次。
國際刑警組織資料顯示，8億的搜索結果中就有6萬與信息庫數據不對應。美國、英國和阿聯酋，每年三國在該數據庫中搜索記錄分別超過2.5億次、1.2億次和5000萬次
Fuentes表示，利用國際刑警組織的這一數據庫，美國經常覈查國際航班上所有出入境乘客的護照信息。
國際刑警組織祕書長說：“如果馬來新亞航空公司和其他航空公司能夠利用該數據庫覈查下所有乘客的護照信息，我們沒必要推測恐怖分子使用失竊護照登上MH370航班了。”
***護照失竊與泰國有何關聯？
泰國正日益成爲護照失竊的高發地。在當地工作長達14年的風險與安全分析師Paul Quaglia說，和5到10年前相比，泰國的安全局勢好了不少，但是“依然達不到國際標準”。“可惜，泰國依然是仿製高質量護照和其它有效證件的重要基地。Paul Quaglia透露，一些來泰國旅遊的年輕人，身上帶的現金不多，卻參加奢侈的聚會，享受高消費帶來的快樂，一陣揮霍後，身上所剩無幾，於是選擇賣掉自己的護照換些現金。然後再到大使館按照規定補辦一本護照。所以並不是所有“丟失”的護照都是被“偷走的”。一些所謂“丟失”的護照會在市場上流動。
針對MH370失竊護照的調查已經展開，航空專家希望通過回放機場錄像以及調查其它資料不僅找到是誰偷了護照後登機，而且還希望弄清非法護照如何危害航空安全。
國際刑警組織稱，他們正在同其在相關國家駐設的“國家中心局”（National Central Bureaus）聯繫，查明MH370航班上持假護照登機乘客的真實身份。
國際刑警組織敦促各國和航空公司利用國際刑警組織丟失旅行證件數據庫，對乘客的護照及其相關證件進行覈查。
國際刑警組織祕書長Ronald K. Noble表示：“我真誠地希望世界各國政府和航空公司能從MH370航班失聯的悲劇中幡然醒悟，並開始對所有乘客的護照進行檢查，檢查清楚後再允許登機。只有採取這樣的措施才能保證乘客出行的安全。”
