By Jun Ramirez
The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has arrested a Bangladeshi national at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) for using a fake Canadian passport.
Bureau of Immigration (MANILA BULLETIN)
BI port operations chief Grifton Medina said 31-year-old Mohammed Abu Saied was intercepted last Sept. 30 at the NAIA terminal 2 before he could board his connecting flight to Los Angeles, California.
Medina said Saied had just arrived as a transit passenger from Bangkok, Thailand when he was accosted.
“During questioning, he admitted paying US$4,000 to a syndicate in Bangladesh for the Canadian passport which he would use to enter the US illegally,” Medina said.
Lawyer Rommel Tacorda, BI’s border control, and intelligence unit (BCIU) chief, said Saied also presented a spurious driver’s license and social insurance ID purportedly issued in Ontario.
“He initially claimed that he lived for 12 years in the French-speaking city of Montreal but he could not even converse in French,” Tacorda said.
Meanwhile, BI officers also intercepted at NAIA terminal 1 a Pakistani family with fake Canadian visas who attempted to fly to Canada last October 12.
The Pakistanis, identified as Mohsin Maqsood, Iqra Mohsin, and Rida Mohsin were intercepted Saturday afternoon, upon referral by airline staff.
The trio, who attempted to board a Philippine Airlines flight to Canada, presented passports with dubious Canadian visas.
During the interview, they admitted that they bought their fake Canadian visas from a Pakistani and an Indian national, to whom they paid almost half a million pesos for processing.
All four aliens were brought to the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending their deportation.