Immigration officers have foiled several attempts by a criminal syndicate to smuggle illegal aliens to the UK and Canada via Manila airport.
In a report to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente, Bureau of Immigraion (BI) port operations division chief Marc Red Mariñas said the intercepted passengers included two Congolese men, a Pakistani and a Chinese. They are now confined at the bureau’s detention facility pending deportation.
Mariñas said Pakistani Waheed Zeeshan and Chinese national Bo Hong were apprehended on Wednesday January 17, while Congolese passengers Naty Kanda Mizidi and Caleb Mizidi were arrested on Sunday, January 21, at the capital’s Ninoy Aquino Intertational Airport.
Mr Morente commended the BI officers responsible for thwarting the efforts of the human smuggling ring.
He also said that the apprehensions were only the latest in a series of botched attempts by human smuggling syndicates to use Manila as a transit point for their operations.
“Thanks to the vigilance of our immigration officers at the airport, they have frustrated the nefarious activities of these syndicates,” the BI chief added.
Zeeshan was apprehended upon his arrival from Kuala Lumpur and after BI fraud examiners certified that the British passport he presented was bogus.
It was learned that he planned to leave Manila for London next Friday (January 26) and that he had two Pakistani passports in his luggage.
Hong, on the other hand, was prevented from embarking for Toronto after he tried to leave by presenting a fake Mexican passport. The Canadian embassy was able to confirm that the Canadian visa sticker on the passport was counterfeit.
Meanwhile, the two Africans attempted to leave for Vancouver but were offloaded after it was found that the Canadian visas on their passports were forged.