Suspected terrorist intercepted at NAIA

Immigration officers intercepted a suspected foreign terrorist and his three companions at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), Thursday.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said the foreigner’s name was included in a database of suspected international terrorists that the Interpol shares with the BI.

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The suspected terrorist and his companions arrived at NAIA on February 5 and were turned back and booked a flight to Singapore, their port of origin, the BI said in a statement.

BI port operations chief Grifton Medina said the identities of the foreigners were not disclosed for security reasons.

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Suspected terrorist intercepted at NAIA

Medina said the BI could stop any foreigner suspected of having links to any terrorist group from entering the country.

“He is just one of thousands of international terrorists whose names were included in the shared database containing information supplied by the various law enforcement and intelligence agencies here and abroad,” Medina said.

The BI said the man and his companions are all of Iraqi descent and hailed from Iraq’s Kurdistan region, whose residents fought for self-government in the past decades.

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In December 2019, an immigration officer barred an Australian national who is a member of the dreaded international motorcycle gang ‘Hells Angels’ from entering the Philippines.