African with fake Canadian visa nabbed
Bureau of Immigration (BI) officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) have arrested an African passenger trying to leave the country using a fake Canadian visa.
In a report to BI Commissioner Jaime Morente, BI Port Operations Division (POD) Chief Grifton Medina identified the passenger as Ghanaian national Abdul WahabIssah, 36, who was apprehended at NAIA Terminal 2 last Oct. 21.
Issah attempted to board a Philippine Airlines flight to Toronto by presenting a passport with a fake Canadian visa.
Medina said Issah admitted buying the visa for $6,000 from a travel syndicate in his country.
“Due to his apprehension, we were able to foil another attempt to use Manila as a jump-off point for smuggling illegal aliens to Canada,” said the newly installed POD chief.
Issah is currently detained at the BI detention facility while undergoing deportation proceedings.
Medina added that he has instructed immigration officers in all ports nationwide to be more vigilant in monitoring foreign travelers to ensure that syndicates will be unable to take advantage of the coming holidays to smuggle illegal aliens in and out of the country.
Medina recently reshuffled some 200 members of the Travel Control and Enforcement Unit (TCEU) at the NAIA and other international airports throughout the country.
The TCEU is a special team of immigration officers whose task is to conduct secondary inspection of arriving and departing international passengers. (With a report from Ariel Fernandez)