The terror group ISIS has created a whole “industry” out of the production of fake passports, a high-level French official said today.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve told reporters that through ISIS’s operations in Syria, Iraq and Libya, the group has acquired blank passports and has now set up a “real fake document industry.” Cazeneuve made the statement following a meeting with top European officials where he proposed setting up a new task force to help nab people attempting to come into the European Union with fake papers.
Last month ABC News reported that U.S. intelligence suspected ISIS had acquired thousands of blank Syrian passports and at least one passport printing machine after taking over government offices in Syria. Officials from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) said in a 17-page report that the terror group has likely been able to print legitimate-looking Syrian passports since at least last summer – and raised the possibility that people using the forged documents have snuck into America.
Maybe it’s just me, but all of the U.S.-backed air strikes against ISIS don’t seem to be slowing the terrorist group down. ISIS has now become something like a-Qaeda’s smarter, more brazen brother. Even after al-Qaeda pulled off the attacks on 9/11, there was a temptation to dismiss them as a bunch of fanatical loons who were hiding in caves. They weren’t really being sneaky prior to 9/11, they were just taking advantage of the joke the U.S. used in place of diligent monitoring of foreigners roaming about the country. Sure, we worried somewhat about them using the porous borders to gain further access to the country, but, largely thanks to liberals and moderate Republicans, we didn’t worry that much.
Now ISIS has a global recruiting reach thanks to social media, and they can provide fake passports at will.
Syrian passports.
But we’re not supposed to worry about people coming in from Syria, right?
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