Newspaper uncovers Olympics visa plot

LONDON, July 23 (UPI) -- A plot offering false passports and visas to illegally enter England with the Pakistani Olympic team was exposed Monday by a London newspaper.

An undercover investigation by the British newspaper The Sun, secretly videotaped, claimed to demonstrate how Pakistani politician Abid Chodhary could bypass stringent security and provide a two-month visa to stay in Britain, a false spot on Pakistan's Olympic team and even participation in the opening ceremonies for the London Summer Games, for 7,000 British pounds, or $10,850.

The newspaper said it alerted British government security offices, and quoted an unnamed "intelligence operative" as saying: "The idea of unknown agents being flown into the U.K. to be put up in the Olympic Village beggars belief. Terrorists would have the biggest platform to perform their atrocities. This staggering loophole needs closing fast."