By KUNA,
London : About 3,000 blank passports and visas have been stolen while being transported from Manchester, northern England, to London, it was announced here Tuesday.
The documents were in a van which was targeted yesterday morning.
The British Foreign Office admitted a serious breach of security over the loss of the passports and visa stickers, which were being sent to embassies overseas.
However, the passport service said the stolen documents could not be used by thieves because of their hi-tech embedded chip security features.
The Foreign Office said 24 parcels were stolen in the incident.
The documents were being taken from a factory in Manchester to the Royal Air Force base of Northolt, west London, where they were to be later sent to British embassies.
The passports were the new electronic variety which contain a chip replicating the data printed on the document itself.
The UK Identity and Passport Service said the security features would make them unusable on the black market.