SYDNEY, July 22: The Australian government, investigating 330 cases of identity fraud by asylum seekers, has revealed that Pakistani human smugglers are bringing people from their country as Afghan refugees.

The government claims aid workers in Afghan border towns have witnessed people from across the border being brought to show them locations and local conditions.

Australian immigration minister has claimed that tapes of the official linguistic tests were being sold in Pakistan.

“Our cooperation has not been sought and we were not officially informed about the Bakhtiari case,” a source at Pakistani high commission in Canberra said on Monday, referring to two boys’ attempt to get asylum at the British consulate in Melbourne after escaping from a detention centre.

Ali Bakhtiari’s case has become high profile after his 12 and 13-year-old sons made a failed attempt last Thursday to get asylum at the British consulate in Melbourne after escaping from the Woomera detention centre three weeks ago.

Prime Minister John Howard claimed on Friday that Bakhtiari was a Pakistani and the immigration department is trying to revoke his visa as an Afghan refugee.

The department says the alleged scam of fake Afghan identity was discovered when the Road and Traffic Authority told the it of several people who were trying to change the names on their driving licenses.

“Those names were radically different. They were going from Afghan names to typically Pakistani names,” a spokesman for the department told Sydney Morning Herald.

The government uses linguistics test to check the identity of prospective asylum seekers when they arrive in Australia. The recordings are sent to Sweden where experts try to determine where the person is from. Each test costs 2,000 Australian dollars and almost 2,000 tests were done in the last two years.

Immigration Minister Philip Ruddock says the tapes have reached Pakistan.

“The interview tapes were being sold around markets in Quetta and in other parts of Pakistan and I had observations from aid workers about the nature of the visits that were being made,” Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted him as saying.

The Herald, quoting an immigration spokesman, stated: “There was evidence of coaching and of maps being drawn of places such as Kabul to help people identify the city’s main features.”

The government says it has enough evidence to cancel the temporary protection visas of about 50 people who have allegedly made false claims to be Afghan refugees. So far the government has revoked the visas of only two asylum seekers. The government is seeking the help of Afghan community in Sydney and Melbourne to determine the identity of asylum seekers claiming to be Afghans.

Ali Bakhtiari, who came into the limelight because of the plight of his family detained at the centre, will go to Canberra on Tuesday where, it is understood, Afghanistan’s Honorary Consul Mahmoud Saikal will try to help prove his claim that he is a Hazara from Afghanistan.

Sources at Pakistani high commission in Canberra told Dawn the Australian government had not contacted the mission to verify the claim that Bakhtiaris were Pakistani.

“The immigration department keeps in touch with us to verify the identity of suspects. At least eight to 10 cases were sent to us this year but nothing is in the pipeline regarding the current investigations,” said a diplomat.

Meanwhile, the Australian government claims around 10 per cent of the asylum seekers accepted cash offers to go back to Afghanistan.

The government offers $2000 each to individuals and up to $10,000 to families as the reintegration package.