Terrorist organisations are using driving tests in the UK to open bank accounts needed to move money in and out of the country to fund their operations, a news report revealed on Sunday. The British authorities have stepped up action to stop the fraud with a far reaching undercover operation.

The government has launched a massive operation to crack down on driving test fraud after it emerged that profits from the scam are being used to fund terrorism, The Daily Telegraph reported. The licences obtained by deception facilitate the creation of false identities that allow terrorist organisations to open bank accounts to move money made from the scams in and out of the UK. "It is very far reaching criminality. We have found links to terrorist activity," a spokesman for the Fraud & Integrity unit at the Driving Standards Agency was quoted as saying by the British daily.

It said since 2004 the Driving Standards Agency has investigated over 3,476 alleged incidents of test impersonation at driving and theory test centres, leading to 773 arrests by the end of March this year. "Intelligence suggests some of the proceeds, millions of pounds in some cases, have been transferred overseas and used in paramilitary activities," a government official told the London-based daily.