A 28-year-old Israeli was arrested at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) last Dec. 27 after he was caught using a fake Philippine passport, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) said on Thursday, Dec. 28.
“The use of these spurious passports will no longer work as immigration officers are trained and adept in detecting fraudulent travel documents,” Commissioner Norman Tansingco said.
Tansingco withheld the name of the arrested Israeli who was intercepted before he could board his flight to Denpasar, Indonesia.
He said the Israeli with Filipino descent presented his passport to immigration authorities during pre-departure formalities.
However, Tansignco said the passport presened "turned out to be fake as evidenced by the glaring irregularities immediately noticeable in the passport’s bio-page.”
After forensic examination, the passport was confirmed as a counterfeit, he said.
“When asked by the immigration officer how and where he obtained the said passport, the passenger readily admitted that he procured the same from a fixer for a fee of P10,000,” said BI Border Control and Intelligence Unit (BI-BCIU) Overall Deputy Chief Joseph Cueto.
The Israeli is now detained at the BI’s facility in Taguig City.