Fraud soars, enforcement lags
After Drug Enforcement Administration agents nabbed a Chilean cocaine smuggler in Beverly Hills, Calif., they found in his bank safety deposit box only one item, a fraudulent U.S. passport. The phony passport and the forged visa have become standard equipment for drug traffickers, illegal aliens and others seeking a sure if shadowy passage abroad. A 1976 Justice Department report estimated that 80% of all hard drugs flowing into the U.S. were smuggled in with the aid of fraudulent passports. Today as many as 300,000 fugitives and terrorists use bogus...