A man travelled between New Zealand, Australia and Fiji for three years using two separate fake passports, clearing Customs and Immigration each time, the New Zealand Herald reports.
Dane Antony Moule, who has a criminal record, says he did it because he knew he wouldn’t be allowed into Australia.
NZ Herald states according to the police summary of facts, which does not specify Moule’s criminal history, he had asked an associate to complete the first of two false passport applications in May 2015.
The New Zealand passport was processed and issued by the Department of Internal Affairs in his associate’s name, with Moule’s photograph, Nelson District Court heard on Monday.
The following month, Moule travelled from Auckland to the Gold Coast, clearing Customs with the passport, knowing it was false.
Moule used the same passport to fly back to New Zealand, arriving in Christchurch a few weeks later.
He booked another trip to Australia in January 2016, using the same false passport to travel from Auckland to Brisbane, returning eight days later.
Then, there was a hiatus in Moule’s travels until February 2018, when he travelled to Fiji, using a different fake passport.
NZ Herald reports in 2016, he acquired a second fake passport, using the same associate to complete the application in his name but again using Moule’s photo.
On February 16, 2018, Moule took off for Nadi, having cleared Customs using the forged passport before travelling back to Auckland nine days later.
Moule was eventually caught by the facial recognition technology used in passports.
At the border, New Zealand Customs uses eGates to match the picture of someone’s face in their ePassport with the picture it takes of them at the gate.
The Department of Internal Affairs began issuing New Zealand biometric passports in 2005, but dozens of false passports were discovered during security checks before a new online passport renewal system was introduced in late 2012.
NZ Herald reports Moule, now 61, admitted two representative charges laid under the Passport Act for false representations and using forged and false New Zealand travel documents.
Moule’s guilty pleas followed an amendment to what was initially eight separate charges.
One of the representative charges carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence and the other, five years.
He was remanded on bail ahead of his sentencing in July.
