Somalian posing as Swede held at NAIA

Immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have intercepted a Somali national who attempted to go to the United Kingdom by posing as a Swedish citizen.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said 23-year-old Abdinajah Mohamoud Aden, who arrived as a transit passenger, was about to board his connecting flight to London, when he was stopped by members of the Bureau of Immigration’s travel control and enforcement unit (TCEU).

Aden, who arrived in Manila last Saturday on a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight from Dubai, was booked on the first available flight to his port of origin, Morente said.

The incident was relayed to officers of the British embassy in Manila, he said. Morente said that under the law aliens using spurious travel documents are subject to outright expulsion from the country.

Immigration port operations division chief Marc Red Mariñas said Aden presented to PAL personnel a Swedish travel document instead of his passport.

“It was only during questioning that he was compelled to produce his Somali passport which he had hidden in his luggage,” Mariñas said.

Aden was uncooperative during the interview, claiming that he acquired his Swedish travel document for $3,000 from a friend in Somalia so he could travel to London.

Somalis are considered high-risk nationals and its citizens are required to secure entry visas from a Philippine consulate abroad before coming here.