BI nabs African woman with fake visa

THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) on Saturday reported the arrest of a 23-year-old African woman who, on Monday night, attempted to depart for Europe from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 with a fake Schengen visa.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said a certain Binetou Dieng attempted to board an Eva Air flight to Taipei en route to her final destination in Milan, Italy.

However, the woman was intercepted upon secondary inspection by the immigration supervisors, who were tipped that she was in possession of counterfeit travel documents.

“We suspect that this woman’s trip was facilitated by a syndicate engaged in the trafficking of Africans to Europe. We learned that she just arrived from the Middle East two days ago with a companion we suspect was a courier for the syndicate,” Tansingco said.

Immigration supervisors said they subjected Dieng to further questioning after her case was referred to them by Eva Air representatives.

“The airline personnel, who are also trained in detecting such frauds, alerted our officers about the suspicious visa,” Tansingco added.

The airline personnel reported to immigration that it was their counterparts in the Netherlands who told them to be on the lookout for the fake document.

Subsequent examination by the BI anti-fraud section confirmed that both the Schengen visa and identity card presented by the passenger are spurious.

Dieng is now detained at the BI warden facility in Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City, pending deportation proceedings, Tansingco said, adding that the African will later be expelled for using spurious immigration documents and placed on the BI blacklist to prevent her from re-entering the Philippines.