(LAWFUEL) – A 38-year-old Congolese man faced the Perth Magistrates Court today charged with possessing a false passport.
The man arrived in Australia from South Africa through Perth International Airport on November 9 and presented a false French passport.
Enquiries by the multi-agency Identity Security Strike Team (ISST) revealed the man was not the original passport holder and police suspect the passport may have been unlawfully obtained in South Africa, where the alleged offender had been recently in residence.
The Perth ISST is a multi-agency taskforce with members from the Australian Federal Police, Australian Crime Commission, Department of Immigration and Citizenship, Australian Customs Service and Western Australia Police.
The Perth ISST is part of a larger national ISST network, with teams also located in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. The teams investigate serious and complex identity security matters forming a collaborative network among law enforcement agencies to effectively deal with this crime.
The man was charged with possessing a document knowing that it was a false foreign travel document contrary to section 21(2) of the Foreign Passports (Law Enforcement and Security) Act 2005.
The maximum penalty for this offence is 10 years imprisonment and/or a $110,000 fine.
