Officials in dark on claims 4,000 hit by passport scam

CLAIMS that 4,000 Hong Kong people wasted millions of dollars buying passports from a non-existent country are baffling local authorities, who say they have never heard of the scam.

Spanish police said last week they had smashed a racket selling worthless passports for the mysterious 'Principality of Sealand', which claims to be a tiny state off the British coast run by 'Prince Roy' and 'Princess Joan'.

They said thousands of Hong Kong residents were among 160,000 people worldwide to have fallen for the ruse, which offered passports, citizenship papers and university degrees for up to $44,000 each.

But police and immigration officials here say they have never seen a Sealand passport, nor received a complaint.

An elaborate Web site for Sealand says the state was established on September 2, 1967, when a former British major claimed control of a deserted World War II military platform about 10km off Britain's east coast in the North Sea.

It says Sealand has minted its own coins and its currency is equal in value to the US dollar. Sealand has a flag, stamps and a coat of arms.

But the Spanish police, who arrested the alleged ringleader at a bingo hall in Madrid last week and seized hundreds of blank passports, said Sealand's non-existent status had been used to set up covert business deals, particularly with African countries.