Interpol urged the world's airlines on Tuesday to establish a passport database to help prevent terror attacks similar to the September 11, 2001 airline hijackings that targeted the United States. Many terrorists travel on fake documents and a database would make it easier to detect stolen or fraudulent passports, the head of the cross-border crimefighting agency told an aviation conference in Singapore.
"It would have prevented the first World Trade Centre bombing," Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said, noting that one of the attackers had entered the US with a stolen passport. "There are many, many, many cases with people travelling internationally that get trained as terrorists using false identity documents, so it would definitely prevent terrorist activity," he added.
Interpol - which stands for the International Criminal police Organisation - has 188 member countries and facilitates cross-border police co-operation against international crime. Noble said terrorists often travel to countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan to receive bomb-making and weapons training.
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