Beijing — Angolans who allege the missing of their passports in Guangzhou region, People's Republic of China, are feared to have been the victims of foreign criminal action, a consulate official told journalists.

Speaking to Angolan journalists, the official in charge of the Consular Services of the Angolan Embassy to China, Maria Luzia Dias dos Santos, said the consulate is confronted with many applications for safe-conducts for Angolans claiming their passports have gone missing in taxis, hotels, banks and even during attacks.

She said at the hotels they put up there are people of other nationalities who are believed to have implications in the theft of Angolan passports, as they stay on in Guangzhou beyond time allowed by normal visas.

According to the diplomat, there seems to be a kind of criminal organisation that steals Angolans' passports from hotels at which they put up and give them out to other people to cover up their true nationality.

Maria Luzia Dias dos Santos said she thinks the disappearance of the passports are not accidental, as they are never recovered from streets or taxis.

She mentioned that the Chinese authorities have never handed in to the Consular Services of the Angolan Embassy any document "picked from the street", which makes her believe that "something must be happening in this city."