Police and travel agent uncover fraud and theft case
(From The Orcadian dated January 10, 2002)

A major fraud and theft case spanning England and west Africa has been uncovered thanks to the combined efforts of Orkney police and a local travel agent.

The work of the two, alongside British Airways and Heathrow police, has led to the arrest of a 26-year-old Afro-Caribbean man allegedly trying to fly from London to Ghana with a batch of stolen passports.

It is believed the passports would have been used by illegal immigrants and drug couriers.

A phone call from London to Ridgway Travel in Kirkwall sparked the major police inquiry involving officers at opposite ends of the country.

Kirkwall CID’s new Detective Sergeant Bob Mackenzie and Constable Ross Allan, who is currently seconded to the CID department, were the local officers involved.

DS Mackenzie explained that Ridgway Travel staff had become suspicious when a man telephoning from London requested an air ticket from Heathrow to Ghana.

“Ridgway Travel asked why he was phoning them. He said he’d heard they were in the top ten for travel agents selling tickets.”

Ridgway then contacted local police who discovered that the man was allegedly using someone else’s credit card details to try and purchase the ticket.

“Eventually we discovered through inquiries with the bank that somebody had got hold of the credit card number and used it fraudulently,” DS Mackenzie said.

As part of a police inquiry, Ridgway and British Airways acted along and the ticket booking was made for Boxing Day.

“The man was to pick up his electronic ticket from Heathrow. When he arrived he was accompanied by another male. British Airways alerted Heathrow police and as a result the person was approached by the police.”

DS Mackenzie continued: “He was to be interviewed in respect of a suspected fraud but when approached by police the man attempted to pass a package to his associate which contained a number of stolen passports.”

It is likely that the passports would be sold on to residents in Ghana looking for a new life in Britain, or used for drug couriers, according to PC Allan.

The man appeared in a London Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, December 27.

Police praised the staff at Ridgway for getting in contact with them and playing along to try and snare the man. DS Mackenzie said it would have been easy for them to have refused a ticket sale when they became suspicious.

Mark Ridgway explained that the man had made inquiries about flights to Montego Bay and Dublin before opting for Ghana. When he did not query the £800 price ticket, Mark Ridgway said staff became more concerned.

“Theoretically, from your travel bucket shop he could have got the ticket for around £200 but he did not care what the air fare cost.”

A member of staff took some details, made a provisional booking and said she would need a credit card number. She also asked for an address and fax number, which the man gave without hesitation.

“She told him the computers were not working and could not process the card straight away, that gave us 24 hours to get the card checked out by the police. It came back as a stolen number,” Mr Ridgway said.

But Ridgway Travel agreed to play along and, while working with British Airways, told the man he could pick up his ticket at Heathrow Airport.

Mark Ridgway said he had had a similar experience a few years ago with a man also trying to book a ticket to west Africa, on that occasion he turned him down after becoming suspicious.