Kiwi passports found on bomb-plot forger

NZ Newswire

New Zealand passports were among those found in the possession of an Iranian forger accused of supplying counterfeit passports to terrorists and other criminals.

Seyed Ramin Miraziz Paknejad was arrested last month in Malaysia on suspicion of providing forged passports and fake visas to human traffickers, drug smugglers and terrorists.

His arrest came after he fled Thailand last year following a failed bomb plot targeting Israeli diplomats.

Seyed Ramin was alleged to have provided forged passports to five Iranians involved in the plot, with his apartment found to contain more than 3000 passports and drivers' licences - including 19 New Zealand passports, the New Zealand Herald reports.

Of those, 14 had been reported lost or stolen in Thailand, while two had legitimate names and details of New Zealand citizens with other people's photographs.

Thai police have been hunting Seyed Ramin since early 2012, after the explosives set to be used in the plot detonated accidentally in Bangkok.

Two men face a trial in Thailand on charges of attempted murder and possession of explosives, another man is in custody in Malaysia and two others are believed to be in Iran.

Seyed Ramin is believed to be a key figure in an Asian syndicate providing forged documents to Iranians and international criminals, including human traffickers targeting Australia and New Zealand.
Colonel Songsak Raksaksakul, the head of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs and Transnational Crime, told the New Zealand Herald forged documents had been sold to more than 3000 buyers in 14 countries for $1000 each.