Thousands of passports stolen
Around 3,000 blank passports and visas have been stolen out of a van while being transported from Manchester to London.
The Foreign Office has confirmed the serious breach of security over the loss of the passports, being sent to embassies overseas.
Twenty-four separate parcels were stolen in the robbery on Monday.
The passport service, however, claims the stolen documents can not be used by the thieves as the passports contain hi-tech embedded chip technology.
The documents were on route from a factory in Manchester to RAF Northolt, west London, where they were due to be sent to British embassies.
Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve said the events proved the government should not proceed with its plans for cumpolsory ID cards.
“This illustrates how the government is wrong to rely exclusively on biometric technology to keep us safe – which experts have shown can be easily cloned,” he said.
“This is the latest in a long line of security disasters to hit the government and it shows how organised criminals will target identity documents.
“This would be all the more serious if everyone in the country has to carry an identity card.”
The Liberal democrats came to a similar conclusion.
“The government has proven time and time again that it cannot be trusted with sensitive documents,” said Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman David Howarth.
“If passports can be stolen this easily, why can’t ID cards?”
