New microchipped passports meant to prevent identity theft can be cloned in minutes, it has been claimed.

The chips, which are implanted inside the document and must be scanned by a passport reader before the holder can travel, have serious security flaws.

In an e-passport test, computer researcher Jeroen van Beek cloned the chips on two British passports, implanting a digital image of Osama bin Laden on to that of a baby boy and a suicide bomber on to a picture of a 36-year-old woman.

Bogus details were inserted into fake passport papers to back up the chips, which were then accepted by software used by the UN body that sets standards for the documents.

The flaws mean terrorists could use faked chips to travel undetected.

They also undermine claims that 3,000 blank passports stolen last week were worthless.

The Home Office has argued that cloned microchips would be spotted at border checkpoints because they would not match key codes when checked against an international database.

But the system will be fully secure only when every e-passport nation has joined - 10 of the 45 countries with e-passports have signed up to the Public Key Directory code system and five are using it. Mr van Beek said: "We are not claiming that terrorists are able to do this to all passports today or that they will be able to do it tomorrow. But it does raise concerns over security that need to be addressed."

Shadow home secretary Dominic Grieve added: "It is of deep concern that the technology underpinning a key part of the UK's security can be compromised so easily."

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