C.B.P. News Release

CBP Field Operations Officers Arrest Citizen of Guinea on Fraudulent Document Charges

(Saturday, January 10, 2009)

Champlain, N.Y. – U.S. Customs and Border Protection Field Operations announced the arrest of a citizen of Guinea who presented a fraudulent Canadian passport.

On January 8, CBP officers encountered 22-year-old Djenabou Toure, as she applied for entry into the United States as a passenger aboard the Amtrak passenger train in Rouses Point, N.Y. Toure presented a Canadian passport as documentation to enter the country. Toure advised the primary CBP Field Operations officer that she was en route to Queens, N.Y., to visit family.

The presented passport contained a true photo of Toure; however, the inspecting CBP Field Operations officer noticed that the passport biographical page appeared to be altered. Toure was removed from the train and taken to the Champlain port of entry for verification of her immigration status.

During the course of the secondary inspection, the subject’s fingerprints were entered into the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) computer system, which revealed that she was in fact a citizen Guinea, who had been denied a U.S. entry visa four times in past, the latest being in July of 2008. CBP Field Operations officers then utilized a unique computer system which employs color and infrared video imaging designed for the verification of legal documents such as passports and visas and is used for the general examination of suspect or questionable documents. Officers determined that the passport presented by Toure was a valid passport, but contained a substituted biographic page with Toure’s photograph.

When confronted, Toure admitted she was not the true owner of the Canadian passport, and had no legitimate claim to Canadian citizenship. She further advised that she was in fact a citizen of Guinea and obtained the passport in Canada with the sole purpose of using it to illegal entry the United States. Toure was arrested by CBP Field Operations on federal charges of misuse of a passport. Toure was transported to the Clinton County Jail pending arraignment in US District Court.

“This arrest is the direct result of CBP Field Operations officers diligence in detecting fraudulent documents stated James T. Engleman, CBP director of Field Operations for the Buffalo Field Office. “Since US-VISIT began in 2004, DHS has used biometric identifiers to prevent the use of fraudulent documents, protect visitors from identity theft, and stop thousands of criminals and immigration violators from entering the country.â€