'Passport incident in US mainly a case of money theft'

BLS International, the agency to which the Indian government has outsourced processing of passports and visa applications in a number of countries, today said the incident of theft of about 70 Indian passports in its San Francisco office in November was a break-in by burglars for primarily stealing money.
"The incident of theft that took place three and a half months ago, was a break-in by burglars for primarily stealing money. In the process, the burglars also carried about 70 processed Indian passports," BLS International clarified.
"BLS International Services Ltd on coming to know of the burglary, reported the matter to the police immediately and alerted the Indian consulate General in San Francisco for cancellation of the stolen Indian passports which has been done," it said.

"The theft was not due to negligence on the part of BLS which has taken reasonable security precautions," the company said, noting that San Francisco Police have investigated the matter.
BLS has also coordinated with the Indian Consulate about the burglary and coordinated with them for the issue of fresh passports to the applicants whose passports were stolen and take necessary steps to avoid any misuse of the stolen passports, it said.