Passports For Sale?

When Pakistani police nabbed Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, the Tanzanian al-Qaeda operative wanted for his alleged role in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in East Africa, they also brought in two South African men. Or did they? South African officials in Pakistan have yet to interview the detainees, who were carrying passports identifying them as Feroze Ganchi, 30, and Zoubair Ismail, 20. The families of two South Africans also named Ganchi and Ismail say the passports must have been stolen from their relatives, who went to Pakistan for religious studies. The families have not heard from the men in over two weeks.

Whatever the truth, South African authorities worry that the country's passports — which require fewer visas than many African and Asian passports — are becoming a must-have accessory for terrorists; Home Affairs officials fear corrupt employees are selling passports. South African passports were among illegal documents found in a raid on a suspected terrorist safe house in London four months ago. "Other countries are already growing wary of our passports," says Anneli Both, a terrorism expert with the Institute for Security Studies in Cape Town. "Now they will think twice before letting us in anywhere."