Visa bids halted over ID concerns

Channel 4 News said IT systems covering India, Russia and Nigeria were affected and said up to 50,000 Indian travellers could have been exposed to having personal details stolen.

Home addresses, dates of birth and passport numbers were all said to be accessible for more than a year creating what the Tories dubbed a "treasure trove for international terrorists".

Data privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner demanded a "full explanation" from the Foreign Office over the apparent breach - which the programme said was first pointed out a year ago.

"The Information Commissioner's Office takes security breaches very seriously. We will expect a full explanation from the Foreign & Commonwealth Office to establish what and how this incident has happened," it told the programme.

The Foreign Office told Channel 4 the IT system was not connected to the Government's own secure information system which is used to process the applications.

Problems with the site were first reported to the firm and the High Commissioner by Indian visa applicant Sanjib Mitra in April 2006 when he found he could access other people's personal data.

Channel 4 was alerted after he discovered last week that it was still possible, it said.

Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said: "It's appalling and almost the most appalling thing is that it's not at all surprising.

"This happens again and again and this probably is the most serious because this will have been a treasure trove for international terrorists, precisely the sort of people the Government keeps telling us its new electronic systems and biometric visas and so on will keep out."