MANILA — Immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) arrested a 19-year-old Syrian national who attempted to enter the country using a bogus Kiribati passport.
In a statement Friday, Bureau of Immigration (BI) port operations chief Grifton Medina identified the apprehended foreigner as Al Naasan Ibrahim, who arrived at the NAIA Terminal 1 aboard a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur last February 22.
“He initially presented a Kiribati passport which drew the suspicion of the immigration officer, who then referred the passenger for secondary inspection,” Medina said in his report to BI Commissioner Jaime Morente.
During the interview, the foreigner allegedly confessed his true nationality and turned in his Syrian passport that was hidden in his luggage.
The BI official added that Ibrahim planned to use the Kiribati passport in going to Sweden where he intended to study.
“Thanks to the vigilance of our immigration officers we again thwarted another attempt by an illegal alien to use Manila as a jump-off point in gaining illegal entry to another country,” Medina added.
The foreign national is now detained at the BI Detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig City pending his prosecution for violating the country’s immigration act.
According to BI-NAIA 1 travel control and enforcement chief Glenn Ford Comia, the Syrian revealed that he bought the fraudulent Kiribati passport for USD5,000 from a syndicate in Siem Reap, Cambodia.
The travel document was allegedly sold to him by a Jordanian named Mohammed whom he met via the internet. Also in his possession is a Kiribati national identity card and certificate of nationality which the syndicate also gave him. (PNA)
