Biometric terrorist net catches 20 bids for visas

More than 20 known or sus­pected terrorists have recently applied for visas to enter Australia.

More than 20 known or suspected terrorists have been matched with biometrics trying to enter ­Australia using normal visa ­processes.

More than 20 known or sus­pected terrorists have recently applied for visas to enter Australia after being caught in a heightened national security net being run across the Five Eyes global intelligence network.

The Australian can reveal that a number of attempts by people regarded as of significant national security risk were made using applications for business and short-term holiday visas to gain entry. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection confirmed that all were blocked when a new biometric data system matched them against the US “known/suspected” terrorist watch-list.

One case is believed to have involved a Pakistani who applied for a visitor visa.

It is also believed that an ­African-born European and a Sudanese-born Bosnian ­applied for business visitor visas before being red-flagged against the same US watch-list.

The Australian understands that a pilot run last year of the new 100 per cent biometric test, in collaboration with the US, also turned up 14 suspected or known terrorists trying to come to Australia via a third but unidentified country used as the test host.

According to a departmental source, about 950 biometric ­referrals were sent to the US during the pilot, resulting in a 90 per cent match rate, with 4 per cent returning adverse match information.

The enhanced screening system, which has allowed officials to increase significantly the number of biometric referrals to international partners, is now in full operation, with mandatory biometric testing of visa applicants from more than 80 “risk” countries, using intelligence from the Five Eyes countries: the US, Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

The Secure Real Time Platform allows, for example, Australia to make real-time referrals against US data holdings comprising about 200 million unique sets of fingers printed from more than 20 US agencies. In the short time it has been in use, more than 20 known or suspected terrorists have been matched trying to enter ­Australia using normal visa ­processes.

All those seeking to enter Australia as refugees under the special humanitarian program, including the 12,000 Syrian and Iraqi resettlement program, are subject to biometric testing. Immigration and Border Protection Minister Peter Dutton will arrive in Washington today for meetings with Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly to discuss Australia’s border protection systems, elements of which the US is believed to be interested in adopting. “These are the very positive outcomes that flow from our close collaboration with our Five Eyes partners,” Mr Dutton said.

“In a difficult international ­security environment we will need to deepen the links that provide vital security outcomes for all of us. The US is our most important ­security partner.

“We live in an uncertain world and meeting the threats at our borders necessitates the closest relationship possible with our Five Eyes partners.” Mr Dutton will brief the key chairs of congressional committees on homeland security.

The Australian revealed this year that an estimated 500 Iraqi and Syrian refugees applying to come to Australia in the past year under the government’s humanitarian program were refused entry after their names were discovered on various international criminal watch-lists.

At least 30 of those were also on ASIO’s ­national ­security terrorism watch-list.

A senior intelligence source at the time said the majority of those identified as security risks had been found among priority family groups seeking refuge in Australia rather than individual single males of fighting age, a development that they described as “unusual and disturbing”.