Organised criminal groups are charging tens of thousands of dollars to manufacture fraudulent passports in an effort to smuggle people into New Zealand.

Figures have also revealed that Malaysia has made a number of attempts at misleading New Zealand's immigration officials.

An Immigration New Zealand official identified and foiled a people smuggling operation in Dubai in May this year. Official information shows two Afghan men attempted to board a flight from Dubai to Auckland using counterfeit Indonesian passports.

The passports imitated the birth dates and details of two men who held current New Zealand visitor visas.



"There is an industry out there around people trafficking. Desperate people will pay significant money," says Peter Devoy, assistant general manager of Compliance and Border Operations at Immigration New Zealand.

"Potentially, the arrangements will cost well beyond tens of thousands of dollars in New Zealand currency."

The smuggling attempt out of Dubai was likely the work of criminal groups in either Indonesia or Malaysia.

A record 3.8 million people came to New Zealand in the year to March 2018 - an increase of more than 1.2 million visitors when compared to the numbers five years ago.

"So with the increasing numbers, we'd expect to see an increase in people trying to get here on fraudulent documents," says Devoy.

From 2016 until July this year, Immigration New Zealand identified 237 fraudulent passports. Fifty people holding suspect documents managed to land in Auckland before being caught.

The rest were stopped before boarding overseas.