Passport raids: 'These were serious criminals'
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has arrested ten people in London and Kent on suspicion of supplying fraudulent passports to more than 100 high-level organised criminals.
Two hundred and fifty officers raided homes in South London, Kent, Essex and Merseyside early this morning following an international police investigation.
The gang is accused of supplying passports to clients alleged to include the jailed drug dealer Jamie Acourt, also a suspect in the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
The NCA says the gang are suspected of getting paid "lookalikes" of criminals to apply for replacement passports, using the criminal’s photo rather than their own.
NCA Deputy Director Chris Farrimond spoke to BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds about the operation.