Five Indonesians in NZ on fake passports 'not terrorists'

A passport scam in Indonesia has enabled up to five Indonesians to enter New Zealand illegally, but authorities do not believe they are terrorists.

New Zealand's Immigration Service, part of the Labour Department, said today it knew who the five illegal immigrants were but had not found them.

Four Indonesians had been arrested in Java, in central Indonesia, over the passport ring.

Scammers had taken the passports of Indonesians with legitimate visitor permits for New Zealand, and swapped their passport photos with those of illegal migrants, enabling them to travel here.

New Zealand border control staff did not detect the falsified passports.

"We clearly train customs officials to look at issues around falsification, but what's happening internationally... the level of sophistication is so great," Labour Department spokeswoman Mary Anne Thompson told National Radio.

Other countries targeted in the scam included Australia, Canada and the United States.

The Immigration Service and police were today working to find the illegal immigrants and "know where we are targeting", Ms Thompson said.

"The difficulty is making sure we have the right person, find out why they are here, and get them out of New Zealand."

The Immigration Service believed the five people had simply wanted to flee Indonesia for "other opportunities" in New Zealand, she said.

Assistant Police Commissioner Jon White said today there were some leads as to where police may find the five people.

"There's nothing to indicate further than a handful of people at this point, so we're just keeping our feet on the ground.

"We're taking this one step at a time."

There was no indication the people using the fake documents were a security threat.

"There is also no indication they have moved on (from New Zealand)," Mr White said.

New Zealand's embassy in Jakarta had been alerted to the scam and staff were working with Indonesian police, he said.

The Herald on Sunday reported yesterday that one of the Indonesians arrested in Java was caught with 230 mixed passport covers, 93 completed passports and an array of immigration stamps.

- NZPA