Passport fraud 'biggest travel threat'

Airport body scanners, backed by many following the attempted Christmas Day airline bombing, are a misguided solution to travel threats, the police group's secretary-general Ronald Noble said.

"The greatest threat in the world is that last year there were 500m, half a billion, international air arrivals worldwide where travel documents were not compared against Interpol databases," he said on the sidelines of the Davos World Economic Forum, where 2,500 business and political leaders are gathered.

"Right now in our database we have over 11m stolen or lost passports," he said. "These passports are being used, fraudulently altered and are being given to terrorists, war criminals, drug traffickers, human traffickers."

The solution, he said, is better intelligence, and better intelligence sharing, among countries.

"You don't know the motivation behind the person carrying the passport," he said. If you're a terrorist, he said, "Are you going to carry explosives that are going to be detected? No."

Many US airports use the body-scanning machines and airports in other countries are adopting them after Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to detonate explosives hidden in his underwear on a December 25 Detroit-bound flight.

But Mr Noble questioned "the amount of money and resources that go into these (body-scanning) machines".

He cited a case two weeks ago in the Caribbean where five people were arrested carrying European passports, but were found to be in possession of stolen passports – one of which had been taken in 2001.

The five had "definite links to crime, organised crime, human trafficking but no definite links to terrorism," he said.

He said US authorities are recognising the threat of passport fraud – in 2006 they scanned the Interpol database about 2,000 times, while last year they did so 78m times. They came up with 4,000 people travelling on stolen or lost passports.

Intelligence experts have cast doubt on the usefulness of the no-fly lists of suspects shared among airports worldwide, saying that criminals can change their names or make simple name spelling changes that render them untrackable.

"(The lists) are useful but I don't believe they are the be-all and end-all," Mr Noble said, adding he was concerned about governments' efforts to expand them.

Mr Noble, who has increased Interpol's efforts to fight terrorism, cybercrime, corruption and maritime piracy, also warned people hoping to donate money to Haiti after its devastating earthquake to be aware of fraud.

"Be very careful," he said, citing several cases of fraudsters preying on donors via fake charity websites.

"Whenever there's a tragedy it seems to bring out the best in people and unfortunately the worst," he said. He added that several sites have been taken down since the earthquake after they were found to represent no known charity.

BILL GATES TO GIVE 6BN for vaccine development

Microsoft founder Bill Gates today announced he will give 10 billion dollars (6bn) over the next decade to research new vaccines and bring them to the world's poorest countries.

Calling upon governments and business to also contribute, Mr Gates and his wife Melinda said the money will produce higher immunisation rates and help to ensure that 90 per cent of children are protected against diseases such as diarrhoea and pneumonia in poorer nations.

"We must make this the decade of vaccines," he said at the Davos Economic Forum. "Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before."

Mr Gates said the commitment more than doubles the 4.5 billion dollars the foundation he and his wife set up has given to vaccine research over the years.

The foundation said up to 7.6 million children under five could be saved up to 2019 as a result of the donation.