MANILA — Four foreigners who attempted to leave the country with spurious documents were arrested by Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers in separate events at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), the BI said on Tuesday.
BI Port Operations Division Chief Grifton Medina said the two Sri Lankan’s, a Chinese fugitive and a Nigerian impostor were intercepted by members of the Bureau’s Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) at the NAIA 1 and 2 terminals.
The Asians--Dorosamy Asah, 32; and Talayan Hilamaran, 35 -- were stopped at the transfer desk area for attempting to transit from Malaysia to Brisbane, Australia using fake Malaysian passports on Monday.
Upon inspection of the passports, BI-TCEU chief Timotea Barizo said noticeable irregularities were seen, which led the officer to submit the documents for forensic inspection. It was later confirmed that both presented fake passports, which they allegedly acquired in Malaysia.
On the other hand, the Chinese man, Wang Wen, 33; and Adekunle Michael Ogunade, 55, from Nigeria, were intercepted at the NAIA 2 and NAIA 1, respectively last Saturday.
Wang was stopped for attempting to flee the country via a Philippine Airlines flight to Xiamen.
“He was found in possession of a Philippine visa with fake immigration arrival and departure stamps. Upon verification with our records, it was discovered that he is the subject of a summary deportation order in 2018 for being a fugitive from justice, as he is wanted in China for being involved in economic crimes,” Medina said.
“We likewise saw that his passport has already been revoked by the Chinese government,” he added.
Barizo said Ogunade was intercepted at the NAIA 1 departure area for attempting to leave using a fake Solomon Islands passport.
She added that Ogunade admitted during investigation his true nationality, upon confirmation that his Solomon Island passport, driver’s license, and identity card were all found to be counterfeit by BI’s forensic document laboratory.
“He was spotted and accosted by our men who noticed his unusual behavior. He seemed like he was trying to evade immigration checks by taking advantage of the passenger congestion,” the BI official said.
Wang and Ogunade are now detained at the BI detention facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City pending their deportation, while the two Sri Lankans have been denied transit and returned to their port of origin. (PNA)
