Interpol's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents database: how border checks work

What the SLTD database holds

Interpol says the SLTD database contains information on travel and identity documents reported as stolen, lost, revoked, invalid or stolen blank ¹. It holds around 138 million records ¹.

The database went live in July 2002 and is run by the Interpol General Secretariat ⁴. The US Justice Department's Interpol office said in 2014 that it held over 40 million records and that police and border authorities in 190 member countries could use it ⁴. A search result shows the issuing country, document type and number, the date of theft or loss, and some details of how it happened ⁴.

SLTD sits alongside other Interpol databases. The Stolen Administrative Documents (SAD) database lists stolen official papers such as vehicle registration documents. The Edison database holds images and security features of genuine travel and identity documents to help officers spot fakes ³.

Who adds records

Countries submit the records. Only the country that issued a document can add it, through its Interpol National Central Bureau or other authorised law enforcement agencies ¹.

In the United States, Interpol Washington, the US National Central Bureau, enters lost and stolen US passport data reported by the State Department ⁴. In 2014, the United States held over 3 million records in SLTD, with daily updates ⁴.

How border checks work

Officials at National Central Bureaus and at frontline locations such as airports and border crossings can check the passports of international travellers against SLTD ¹. Interpol says a check takes seconds and shows at once whether a document has been reported lost or stolen ¹. Access runs through I-24/7, Interpol's secure global police communication system ¹.

Interpol has 196 member countries ⁸. It says access to its databases is available to officials at National Central Bureaus and can be extended to frontline officers at border crossings ⁸. In the United States, CBP officers at ports of entry rely on Interpol Washington to verify foreign passports recorded in SLTD, and Interpol Washington works with foreign counterparts on lost, stolen and fake US passports presented abroad ⁴.

In 2023, officials searched the database 3.6 billion times and got 232,423 positive matches, or hits ¹. Use differs from country to country. In 2014, the US Justice Department said the United States screened the passports of everyone entering the country against SLTD, and the State Department checked the passports of all US visa applicants ⁴. US authorities ran over 238 million SLTD searches in 2013, most of them by the Department of Homeland Security ⁴.

Interpol warns travellers not to use a document they have reported lost or stolen. Once reported to national authorities, it is cancelled and invalid. Anyone who tries to travel on it is refused boarding or entry, and the document is seized ¹.

I-Checkit: checks by airlines and companies

Interpol built a system called I-Checkit to catch stolen documents before travellers reach the airport or border. Trusted private sector partners can submit travel documents for screening against SLTD when customers book a ticket ¹.

Partners send customer or crew document details over an encrypted virtual private network. The check runs against SLTD and against travel documents linked to Interpol Red Notices ². Interpol says the network gives it no direct access to the partner's databases, and gives the partner no access to Interpol's databases ². A match sends an alert to the Interpol General Secretariat and to the National Central Bureaus of the countries concerned ². Interpol markets I-Checkit to travel operators and to banks for customer checks ².

Rules that require SLTD checks

The European Union made SLTD checks mandatory at its external borders. Regulation (EU) 2017/458 of 15 March 2017 amended the Schengen Borders Code to require systematic checks of travel documents against the Schengen Information System, Interpol's SLTD database and national databases of stolen, lost and invalidated documents ⁵. The checks apply to EU citizens and other people with free movement rights as well as to non-EU nationals ⁵. They apply on entry and on exit ⁵. Border officers must check the authenticity of passport chip data ⁵.

At air borders, the regulation allowed a transition of up to six months from 7 April 2017. Longer periods were possible at airports with specific infrastructure problems ⁵.

In December 2017, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2396 on foreign terrorist fighters ⁶. It calls on member states to contribute to and use Interpol databases, and to keep sharing information on lost and stolen travel documents with Interpol ⁶. The same resolution requires states to collect advance passenger information and to build the capacity to use passenger name record data ⁶.

The MH370 case

The gap between holding records and checking them drew attention in March 2014. Interpol confirmed that two passengers on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had boarded with stolen passports, one Austrian and one Italian ⁷. The Austrian passport was stolen in Thailand in 2012 and the Italian one in 2013. Both were in SLTD ⁷.

Interpol said no country had checked either passport against the database between the time it was listed and the flight's departure ⁷. Then Secretary General Ronald Noble said it was "clearly of great concern that any passenger was able to board an international flight using a stolen passport" ⁷. Interpol said it was too soon to speculate about any link between the passports and the missing plane ⁷.