A MAN will appear in court after police seized fake passports and dozens of forged identification documents during raids in Sydney today. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) and New South Wales Police found 10 forged Australian and foreign passports and a number of forged Australian visas after swooping on properties in Waterloo and Kingsford, in inner-southern Sydney, early today. Also located were Australian migration arrival stamps, Medicare cards, NSW driver licences, blank NSW birth certificates and more than 50 stolen cheque books.High-quality templates found on computer disks could have been used to reproduce the fraudulent documents, which had links to an overseas criminal syndicate, police said. The Identity Crime Task Force charged a 34-year-old Waterloo man with a number of commonwealth and state identity crime offences.
The man possessed stolen genuine passports and fraudulently obtained Australian visa and citizenship documents, opened bank accounts in false names, and fraudulently operated those accounts, police said. The man stole authentic identification and assumed the stolen identities in addition to fabricating new identities, which were compiled in "identity kits", they said. The offences include contravention of the new Australian Passports Act 2005, which imposes jail terms of up to 10 years and fines of up to $110,000. The man was refused bail. He is due to appear at Parramatta Bail Court tomorrow.